In May, 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 . . . . . Tom Hickey, Olympia Dukakis, Jacques d'Amboise, Tawny Kitaen, Graeme Ferguson, Tony Armatrading, Neil Connery, Norman Lloyd, Blackie Dammett, David McPhail, Roy Scammel, Charles Grodin, Paul Mooney, Lorrae Desmond, Samuel E. Wright, Robert Hall, Desiree Gould, Paul Soles, Jerome Hellman, Lorina Kamburova, Shane Briant, Gavin MacLeod, Joe Lara and Arlene Golonka.
* Tom Hickey - born sometime in 1944 and died 1st May 2021, aged 76 or 77. Hickey was an Irish Actor of stage, film and television who notched up forty-nine screen acting credits during a career which began in 1971 in the feature film
'Flight of the Doves' with Ron Moody and Jack Wild. From here his other big screen appearances included
'Cal' in 1984 with Helen Mirren,
'Gothic' in 1986 for Director Ken Russell,
'High Spirits' in 1988 for Director Neil Jordan,
'My Left Foot' in 1989 with Daniel Day-Lewis,
'Nuns on the Run' in 1990 with Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane,
'An Awfully Big Adventure' in 1995 for Director Mike Newell,
'Gold in the Streets' in 1997 with Jim Belushi and
'The Butcher Boy' that same year for Neil Jordan again,
'The Last September' in 1999 with Michael Gambon,
'Possession' in 2002 with Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart,
'Breakfast on Pluto' in 2005 for Neil Jordan once more,
'Stella Days' in 2011 with Martin Sheen and Stephen Rea with
'What Richard Did' in 2012 being his final big screen role. In the years in between he also appeared in TV series taking in
'The Riordans', 'Les roses de Dublin', 'Unnatural Pursuits', 'The Bill', and
'Moone Boy' with his final appearance on this TV show being in 2015.
* Olympia Dukakis - born 30th June 1931, died 1st May 2021, aged 89. Dukakis was an American Actress, Producer, teacher and activist who accumulated more than 130 stage productions, more than sixty films and more than fifty television series credits to her name throughout her seven decade spanning career, which launched with a single episode on
'The Doctors and the Nurses' in 1961. Her first big screen role came in the short forty-nine minute film
'Twice a Man' in 1964, and after a number of uncredited film roles she scored a role in the 1969 film
'John and Mary' with Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow. She then scored a bit part in the 1974 actioner
'Death Wish' with Charles Bronson, and then
'The Wanderers' in 1979, followed by
'Moonstruck' in 1987 with Cher and Nicolas Cage which won eighteen awards and nineteen nominations including the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and Golden Globe wins for Dukakis.
'Working Girl' in 1988 came next for Director Mike Nichols, then
'Look Who's Talking' with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley in 1989 and
'Steel Magnolias' also that year with Shirley MacLaine and Sally Field,
'Look Who's Talking Too' in 1990 and
'Look Who's Talking Now' in 1993 with John Travolta and Kirstie Alley again,
'I Love Trouble' in 1994 with Nick Nolte and Julia Roberts,
'Mighty Aphrodite' in 1995 for and with Woody Allen,
'Mr. Holland's Opus' in 1995 with Richard Dreyfuss,
'The Great New Wonderful' in 2005 with Maggie Gyllenhaal,
'7 Chinese Brothers' in 2015 with Jason Schwartzman,
'The Infiltrator' in 2016 with Bryan Cranston,
'Change in the Air' in 2018 with Rachel Brosnahan, with
'Not to Forget' with Louis Gossett Jnr. and Tatum O'Neal currently in Post-Production for a release later in 2021. In the meantime, there were also numerous one off and multiple appearances on TV shows including on thirty-nine episodes of '
Search for Tomorrow', 'The Equalizer', 'Sinatra', 'Tales of the City', 'More Tales of the City' and
'Further Tales of the City', 'Joan of Arc', on twelve episodes of
'Centre of the Universe', 'Numb3rs', 'Law & Order : SVU', on twelve episodes of
'Sex & Violence', on nine of
'Forgive Me', 'Switch' and on nine of the 2019 reprisal series of
'Tales of the City'. Aside from her Oscar and Golden Globe wins, Dukakis also won another thirteen awards and was nominated on twenty-two other occasions. In 2003 she released her autobiography
'Ask Me Again Tomorrow : A Life in Progress', and in 2018,
'Olympia', an American documentary film about her life and career, had its festival premiere at DOC NYC, and went on a theatrical release in the US in July 2020 and starred Whoopi Goldberg, Laura Linney, Ed Asner, Dianne Ladd and Dukakis' cousin Governor Michael Dukakis. She taught acting for 15 years at the New York University and gave master classes for professional theatre universities, colleges and companies across the country. A strong advocate for women's and LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage, she was a figure on the lecture circuit discussing topics such as women living with chronic illness, life in the theatre, the environment, and feminism.
* Jacques d'Amboise - born
Joseph Jacques Ahearn on 28th July 1934 and died 2nd May 2021, aged 86. d'Amboise was an American ballet dancer, Choreographer, Actor, and educator. He joined the New York City Ballet in 1949 and was named principal dancer in 1953. He also made film appearances, including
'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' in 1954,
'Carousel' and
'The Best Things in Life Are Free' both in 1956,
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in 1967 and
'Off Beat' in 1986 being his final screen role. He choreographed seventeen ballets for the New York City Ballet and retired from performing in 1984. D'Amboise founded the National Dance Institute in 1976 to promote dance to children. His work with the institute was featured in the 1983 documentary,
'He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'', which won an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. He received the MacArthur Fellowship in 1990, the Kennedy Centre Honours in 1995, and the National Medal of Arts in 1998.
* Tawny Kitaen - born
Julie E. 'Tawny' Kitaen on 5th August 1961 and died 7th May 2021, aged 59. Kitaen was an American Actress, model and media personality who amassed forty-five screen acting credits to her name during her four decades in front of the camera launching in 1982 in a single episode of TV series
'Capitol'. Her first big screen role came with
'Gwendoline' in 1984 in the title role, and this lead to
'Bachelor Party' with Tom Hanks in 1984,
'Witchboard' in 1986,
'White Hot' in 1988,
'Three of Hearts' in 1993 with William Baldwin and then
'Playback', 'Dead Tides', 'Too Cool', 'After Midnight' and
'Come Simi' between 1996 and 2015. In the intervening years she also appeared in TV series including forty-seven episodes of
'Santa Barbara', 'Seinfeld', on forty-four episodes of
'The New WKRP in Cincinnati', 'Married . . . with Children', lending her voice to thirty-eight episodes of
'Eek! The Cat', and on ten episodes of
'Moms Anonymous' being her final screen role in 2018. She also starred in three
'Hercules' TV movies and the TV series
'Hercules : The Legendary Journeys'. Kitaen appeared in several music videos in the 1980's for the band Whitesnake, and she married the bands lead singer David Coverdale in 1989 but divorced in 1991.
* Graeme Ferguson - born
Ivan Graeme Ferguson on 7th October 1929 and died 8th May 2021, aged 91. Ferguson was a Canadian filmmaker and inventor, noted for co-inventing IMAX, as well as notching up nineteen Producer credits, ten as Director, ten as Cinematographer, five as Writer and two as Editor throughout a career spanning from 1961 up to 2016. His career launched in 1961 with his Directing debut on the documentary film
'The Legend of Rudolph Valentino' which he also wrote and edited. He followed this up over the following years with two feature films
'The Seducers' in 1962 and
'The Virgin President' in 1968 before dedicating his remaining seven directorial efforts to documentaries mostly in the short form, including
'North of Superior', 'Man Belongs to the Earth', 'Snow Job', 'Ocean', and
'The Dream Is Alive' being his final film making outing in 1985. However, after this time, he continued to Produce documentaries right up until 2016 including
'Blue Planet', 'Destiny in Space', 'Into the Deep', 'Mission to Mir', 'Space Station 3D', 'Deep Sea', 'Under the Sea 3D', 'Hubble 3D' and his final credit being
'A Beautiful Planet' all filmed for release in IMAX theatres. Ferguson served as President of IMAX for two decades until 1990, with the company being subsequently sold four years later and becoming a public corporation thereafter. He was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in October 1992 and in 2005 he was conferred the Kodak Vision Award by the Large Format Cinema Association. He subsequently received the first outstanding achievement award from the Giant Screen Cinema Association in 2016.
* Tony Armatrading - born 30th November 1961, died 10th May 2021, aged 59. Armrtrading was an English Actor of stage, television and cinema, and the younger brother of the British singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading. He gained his first TV role in a single episode of the series
'Empire Road' in 1979 (Britain's first all black drama series) and would follow this up with thirty-three episodes on
'Angels', then fourteen on
'Grange Hill' with further TV series appearances on
'C.A.T.S. Eyes', 'Casualty' and
'Chalkface' before securing his first feature film role in 1992's
'As You Like It'. His subsequent big screen roles came with the likes of
'The Saint' with Val Kilmer in 1997,
'Notting Hill' in 1999 with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts,
'Eragon' in 2006 with Jeremy Irons and
'Charlie Says' in 2018 with Matt Smith. In the years in between there were other appearances on TV series including
'Eastenders', 'The Bill', the mini-series
'Colour Blind', 'Monk', 'NCIS', 'Prison Break', 'Death in Paradise' with his final screen role coming in two episodes of
'Hawaii Five-0' in 2020. He also lent his voice to the character of Xalek in four Star Wars video games - in 2011's
'Star Wars : The Old Republic' and then three other
'Star Wars : The Old Republic' games being
'Rise of the Hutt Cartel', 'Shadow of Reven' and
'Knights of the Fallen Empire' in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.
* Neil Connery - born 1st January 1938 and died 10th May 2021, aged 83. Connery was a Scottish Actor and younger brother of Actor Sean Connery who died eight months prior. Connery notched up just eleven screen acting credits during his shortlived and sporadic career in front of the camera, gaining his first break in
'Operation Kid Brother' (aka
'O.K. Connery') a Bond inspired film that became known for having a number of the original James Bond series Actors (Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell) appearing as similar characters. He then went onto
'The Body Stealers' in 1969, and
'Mad Mission 3 : Our Man from Bond Street' (aka
'Aces Go Places 3') in 1984. In the intervening years there were mostly single episodes on TV series and mini-series including
'Adam Smith', 'Square Mile of Murder', 'The Treachery Game', 'The Borgias', 'Taggart' with the forty-two minute documentary short film
'The Paisley Snail' in 1996 being his final screen outing. For most of his life, Connery worked as a plasterer running his own business in Glasgow, Scotland, until an accident in 1983 ended his career.
* Norman Lloyd - born
Norman Perlmutter on 8th November 1914 and died 11th May 2021, aged 106. Lloyd was an American Actor, Producer, and Director with a career in entertainment spanning nearly a century. He worked in every major facet of the industry including theatre, radio, television, and film, with a career that started in 1923. His final film,
'Trainwreck', was released in 2015, after Lloyd had celebrated his one hundredth birthday. Throughout his long and distinguished career Lloyd accumulated sixty-eight screen acting credits, thirty-nine as Producer and twenty-two as Director. His screen acting career took off in 1939 in the made for TV film
'The Streets of New York', and he would follow this up in 1942 with his first feature film in Alfred Hitchcock's
'Saboteur'. He worked again with Hitchcock in 1945's
'Spellbound' with Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, and his subsequent features included
'The Flame and the Arrow' in 1950 with Burt Lancaster,
'Limelight' in 1952 for and with Charlie Chaplin,
'Audrey Rose' in 1977 with Anthony Hopkins,
'Dead Poet's Society' in 1989 with Robin Williams,
'The Age of Innocence' for Martin Scorsese in 1993,
'In Her Shoes' in 2005 with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette with the aforementioned
'Trainwreck' in 2015 for Judd Apatow and with an ensemble cast. His TV roles took in the likes of
'Kojak', 'Quincy M.E.', 132 episodes of
'St. Elsewhere', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Star Trek : The Next Generation', 'The Practice', on forty-nine episodes of
'Seven Days', and
'Modern Family'. Lloyd's Directing credits took in mostly TV movies and TV series including nineteen episodes on
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' (which he also was Associate Producer on 184 episodes) between 1958 and 1962 and then three episodes on
'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour' between 1962 and 1964 (which again he Co-Produced forty-four episodes for) and two episodes of
'Tales of the Unexpected' (on which he also Produced twelve episodes). He was the subject of the documentary
'Who Is Norman Lloyd?', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in September 2007, and in early December 2010, he presented
'An Evening with Norman Lloyd' at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, California, where he spoke about his career and answered questions from the audience.
* Blackie Dammett - born
John Michael Kledis on 7th December 1939 and died 12th May 2021, aged 81. During his screen acting career which lasted from 1977 through to 1990 he accumulated thirty-six roles in cinema and television productions kicking off with with a single episode on
'Charlie's Angels' in 1977 with his first big screen acting role coming in 1979's
'The Lady in Red', which he followed up with small parts in the likes of
'Kiss My Grits' in 1982 with Susan George and Bruce Davison and
'National Lampoon's Class Reunion' that same year,
'Meatballs Part II' in 1984,
'The Boys Next Door' in 1985 with Charlie Sheen,
'52 Pick-Up' in 1986 for John Frankenheimer,
'Lethal Weapon' in 1987 with Mel Gibson with the TV movie
'Hammer, Slammer & Slade' in 1990 being his final screen outing. In the years in between he also had roles in TV series including
'Starsky and Hutch', 'Magnum, P.I.', 'The Fall Guy', 'Hill Street Blues', 'Santa Barbara', and
'The New Adam-12'. Until 2005 Dammett was the President of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers Fan Club, of which his son, Anthony Kledis, was a founding member of the rock band.
* David McPhail - born 11th April 1945, died 14th May 2021, aged 76. McPhail was a New Zealand comedy Actor, Writer, and occasional Director and Producer who notched up seventeen screen acting credits, eight as Writer, two as Director and one as Producer, first appearing in the TV movie
'Richard Pearse' in 1975. From here, he appeared in seven episodes of the comedy sketch show
'Something to Look Forward to' in 1976 (of which he also wrote seven episodes) and then thirty-two episodes of
'A Week of It' between 1977 and 1979 (which again he wrote and Produced those episodes). He would star in his own comedy sketch show playing various characters with his long time friend Jon Gadsby between 1980 and 1985
'McPhail & Gadsby' and then on multiple episodes of the 1990, '91 and '92 current affairs comedy show
'1990 : The Issues', 'Issues' and
'More Issues' and he would reprise his comedy show
'McPhail Gadsby' in 1997 poking fun at various New Zealand politicians and issues. He then went onto twenty-two episodes of
'Letter to Blanchy' with Jon Gadsby again (which he also wrote for), and in the title role across fourteen episodes of
'Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby'. Next up came two local feature films
'The Waimate Conspiracy' and
'No Petrol, No Diesel!' in 2006 and 2009 respectively. Between 2007 and 2010 he would star in the TV series
'Amazing Extraordinary Friends' with
'Passion in Paradise' in 2014 and the thirty minute short Sci-Fi drama film
'Presentiment' in 2017 being his final screen appearance. In the 1992 New Year Honours, McPhail was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for Public Services, and in the 2008 New Year Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to television and the theatre. McPhail's autobiography
'The Years Before My Death : Memories of a Comic Life' was published in 2010.
* Roy Scammell - born 28th July 1932, died 15th May 2021 aged 88. Scammell was a British stuntman and Actor who amassed forty-eight stunt credits, twenty-five as an Actor and two as a Producer over a career which kicked off with uncredited stunt work in 1948 in the Peter Ustinov Directed
'Vice Versa'. He would follow this up with a successive line up of uncredited stunt work on
'Maniacs on Wheels' in 1949,
'Trapeze' in 1956 with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis,
'The Great Escape' in 1963 with Steve McQueen,
'From Russia with Love' with Sean Connery as James Bond,
'Cast a Giant Shadow' in 1966 with Kirk Douglas and John Wayne,
'The Dirty Dozen' with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson and
'Carry On . . . Follow that Camel' both in 1967. His first credited screen stunt work came in
'Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies' in 1969, with more credited work following with Stanley Kubrick's
'A Clockwork Orange' in 1971,
'Rollerball' in 1975 with James Caan,
'Barry Lyndon' in 1975 also for Stanley Kubrick again,
'Alien' in 1979 for Ridley Scott,
'The Dogs of War' in 1980 with Christopher Walken,
'Greystoke : The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes' in 1984 with Christopher Lambert,
'Willow' in 1988 for Ron Howard,
'Do Not Disturb' in 1999 with William Hurt and the short twelve minute film
'Tell Him Next Year' in 2010 and the thirteen minute
'Seize the Night' in 2015 being his final stunt work. Some of his other more notable stunt work, both credited and uncredited, included on six episodes of
'The Onedin Line', as Steve McQueen's stunt double on
'Papillon', on
'Brannigan', on three further Bond movies
'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'For Your Eyes Only', and
'GoldenEye' as well as
'The Sweeney', 'The Professionals' and
'Into the Labyrinth'. His first acting job came in 1966 in the feature film
'Psycho-Circus' with Christopher Lee, and over the years that followed he appeared in
'The Champions', Doctor Who', 'Space : 1999' and
'The Chinese Detective' with roles in feature films including
'The Gladiators', 'O Lucky Man', 'The Pink Panther Strikes Again', 'Golden Rendezvous', 'Flash Gordon' with two twenty-nine minute short films
'News in Brief' in 2007 and
'Ultra Obscura' in 2008 being his final acting roles.
* Charles Grodin - born
Charles Sydney Grodinsky on 21st April 1935 and died 18th May 2021, aged 86. Grodin was an American Actor, comedian, author, TV talk show host and occasional Director and Producer. During his screen career which launched in 1954 he accumulated seventy screen acting roles, four writing credits, three as Director and two as Producer. His first screen role came with an uncredited appearance in
'20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' in 1954, and he would follow this up with other feature films over the subsequent six decades including
'Sex and the College Girl' in 1964, Roman Polanski's
'Rosemary's Baby' in 1968, Mike Nichols
'Catch-22' in 1970,
'The Heartbreak Kid' in 1972 which nabbed Grodin a Best Actor nomination at the Golden Globes,
'11 Harrowhouse' in 1974 with Candice Bergen and James Mason,
'King Kong' in 1976 with Jeff Bridges,
'Heaven Can Wait' in 1978 for and with Warren Beatty,
'The Incredible Shrinking Woman' in 1981 for Joel Schumacher,
'The Great Muppet Caper' that same year for Jim Henson,
'The Woman in Red' for and with Gene Wilder,
'Ishtar' in 1987 with Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty,
'Midnight Run' in 1988 with Robert De Niro,
'Beethoven' in 1992 and its sequel in 1993
'Beethoven's 2nd', 'Dave' in 1993 with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver,
'Heart and Souls' also in 1993 with Robert Downey Jnr.,
'The Humbling' in 2014 with Al Pacino and Greta Gerwig and
'While We're Young' in 2014 too for Noah Baumbach,
'The Comedian' in 2016 with Robert De Niro, and his final big screen role coming in 2017 with
'An Imperfect Murder' with Alec Baldwin and Sienna Miller. In the intervening years there were numerous single and multiple episodes on TV shows taking in sixty-five episodes of
'The Young Marrieds', 'Shane', 'The F.B.I.', 'The Virginian', 'N.Y.P.D.', 'Fresno', 'Law & Order : SVU', 'The Michael J. Fox Show', 'Louie', and
'Madoff'. Grodin won three awards and a further five nods from around the awards and festivals circuit. Between 1962 and 1977 he also starred in or Directed six Broadway plays, and between 1989 and 2013 he wrote eight books with his last being
'Just When I Thought I'd Heard Everything : Humorous Observations on Life in America'. From 1995 to 1998, Grodin hosted his own issues-oriented talk show, '
The Charles Grodin Show', and from 2000 to 2003, he was a political commentator for
'60 Minutes II'.
* Paul Mooney - born
Paul Gladney on 4th August 1941 and died 19th May 2021, aged 79. Mooney was an American comedian, writer, social critic, and Actor, best known as a writer for comedian Richard Pryor and for his collaborations with the likes of Redd Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Dave Chappelle. He accumulated twenty-nine writing credits throughout his career as well as twenty-two as an Actor and four as Producer. His first acting gig came in an uncredited bit part in the TV movie
'Carter's Army' in 1970, and from there his next role came in a single episode of 1977's
'Richard Pryor Show' which he would also write four episodes for in that same year. He went on to write a further four episodes of
'Pryor's Place' in 1984 and in between wrote (albeit uncredited) for various Richard Pryor specials in 1979, 1982 and 1983. Between 1990 and 1994 he would write sixteen episodes of
'In Living Color'. In the intervening years and those that followed he would write for TV specials
'The Patti LaBelle Show', 'Sisters in the Name of Love' (Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle),
'The Debbie Allen Special', 'The Marsha Warfield Show', six episodes of
'The Roseanne Show', three of
'Chapelle's Show', and then between 2004 and 2014 he would script and star in his own shows including
'Judge Mooney' and
'Paul Mooney : It's the End of the World', 'Paul Mooney : The Godfather of Comedy' and
'Paul Mooney : A Piece of My Mind - Godbless America'. In terms of his acting career his credits included
'Which Way Is Up?' with Richard Pryor in 1977,
'The Buddy Holly Story' with Gary Busey in 1978,
'Bustin' Loose' in 1981 with Richard Pryor again,
'Hollywood Shuffle' in 1987,
'In the Army Now' in 1994,
'Bamboozled' in 2000 for Spike Lee and
'Meet the Blacks' in 2016 being his final screen acting role. In 2007, Mooney released his memoir
'Black Is the New White'.
* Lorrae Desmond - born
Beryl Hunt on 2nd October 1929 and died on 23rd May 2021, aged 91. Desmond was an Australian Gold Logie-award-winning singer in 1962 (the first female to win the award), recording artist, radio and television presenter, character Actress, and playwright, with a career that spanned more than fifty-five years both locally and the United Kingdom. Her career began in England, where she carved out a career as a variety performer, as a singer and radio/television presenter, primarily at the BBC, where she had her own shows during the WWII years. Upon returning to Australia she became a popular presenter and remains perhaps best known to early Aussie TV audiences as hostess of '
The Lorrae Desmond Show' from 1960 until 1964, while as a variety entertainer and vocalist she made numerous cabaret and TV appearances including
'In Melbourne Tonight', 'The Graham Kennedy Show', 'The Kamahl Show', 'The Ted Hamilton Show' and
'The Jack Benny Show'. She subsequently toured South Vietnam with the Entertainment Unit during the Vietnam War, and also toured the Middle East, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya and Somalia where she became known for her live singing performances, billed as a forces sweetheart, for which she was honoured with the MBE for services to entertainment. Her first acting role came in the 1955 feature film
'Stock Car' and over the years that followed her thirteen other acting credits took in the likes of three episodes on
'Sheep's Clothing' in 1957, the TV mini-series
'Trouble for Two' in 1958, then sporadic mostly one off appearances on
'Homicide', 'Riptide', 'Number 96', 'Shannon's Mob' and
'The Outsiders' up to 1976 before thirty-five episodes on
'Arcade' in 1980, 816 episodes on
'A Country Practice' from 1981 until 1992, and finally on sixteen of
'Home and Away' in 1997.
* Samuel E. Wright - born 20th November 1946 and died 24th May 2021, aged 74. Wright was an American Actor and singer perhaps best known as the voice of Sebastian in Disney's 1989 animated feature film
'The Little Mermaid', for which he provided the lead vocals to 'Under the Sea', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. His screen acting career launched in the 1976 TV series
'Ball Four' in which he appeared in five episodes and he would follow this up with eighteen episodes on
'Enos' between 1980 and 1981. His feature film debut came in 1988 in the Clint Eastwood Directed Charlie Parker autobiographical offering of
'Bird' in which he played Dizzy Gillespie.
'The Little Mermaid' came next in 1989 and the subsequent spin offs including short films, TV series, video games as well as 2000's video film
'The Little Mermaid 2 : Return to the Sea' and 2008's
'The Little Mermaid : Ariel's Beginning' which was to be his final acting appearance. In the intervening years there were also roles on other TV shows taking in
'Spenser : For Hire', 'New York Undercover', 'Law & Order', and on seven episodes of
'Johnny Zero' in 2005. There was also the voice of Kron the Iguanodon in the 2000 CGI/live action feature film
'Dinosaur'. He also appeared in a number of Broadway shows over the years including
'Jesus Christ Superstar', 'Pippin', and
'The Lion King' playing Mufasa in 1997.
* Robert Hall - born 27th November 1973, died 24th May 2021, aged 47. Hall was an American special makeup effects artist, film Director, Producer, Writer, musician, and owner of PostHuman FX, specialising in providing seamlessly integrated makeup and visual effects. His 116 make up, special effects and visual effects credits, plus his eight as Director, nine as Producer and four as Writer began in 1993 on
'Body Snatchers' and over the years that followed he also worked on more notable films including
'The Island of Dr. Moreau', 'Wishmaster', 'Ghosts of Mars', 'Superbad', 'Prom Night', 'Pineapple Express', 'Nights in Rodanthe', 'The Crazies', 'Paranormal Activity 2, 3 and
4', 'John Dies at the End', 'Mary', 'Halloween', 'The Quarry', 'Jiu Jitsu' and
'The Malibu Tapes' currently in post-production. His credits as Director took in the feature films
'Lightning Bug' in 2004,
'Laid to Rest' in 2009,
'Chromeskull : Laid to Rest 2' in 2011 and
'Fear Clinic' in 2014. In between time he also worked on numerous TV series including
'Black Scorpion', 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'Firefly', 'Angel', 'Fear Clinic', 'The Inside', 'Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles', 'Teen Wolf', 'Wilfred', 'Those Who Kill' and
'Queen of the South' most recently.
* Desiree Gould - born 27th March 1945 and died 24th May 2021, aged 76. Gould was an American Actress best known for her role in the 1983 cult slasher film
'Sleepaway Camp'. Despite the success of this film, Gould decided to refrain from acting for several years in order to become a real estate agent, before making an official return in 2006, when she was cast in
'Under Surveillance'. Since then her screen credits include the short film
'Caesar and Otto meet Dracula's Lawyer' in 2010, a guest appearance on the television series
'Joe Zaso's Cafe Himbo' in 2011 and, a role in the anthology film
'Tales of Poe' in 2014. She also performed in a number of other films including
'The Switch' with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman,
'Morning Glory' with Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton,
'Going the Distance' with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, and
'Arthur' with Russell Brand and Helen Mirren, and the television series,
'Law & Order', 'Damages', and,
'Mercy'.
* Paul Soles - born 11th August 1930 and died 26th May 2021, aged 90. Soles was a Canadian Actor and TV personality who amassed ninety-five screen acting credits throughout his six decade spanning career in front of the camera. His first screen appearance was on CFPL (Canada's second privately owned television station) in 1953, and he continued to perform some sixty years later, performing in twenty-two episodes of the comedy web series
'My 90-Year-Old Roommate' between 2016 and 2018 on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's online comedy channel, CBC Comedy, and right up until 2020 on a single episode of
'Nurses'. His early work was mostly in lending his voice talents to such animated TV movies and series including
'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' in 1964, then
'King Kong', 'Iron Man', 'Captain America', 'Hulk', 'Spider-Man', 'Noah's Animals', 'King of the Beasts', 'Spider-Woman' before his first feature film in 1981
'Ticket to Heaven' with Meg Foster, Kim Cattrall and Saul Rubinek. This in turn led to other feature films over the years that followed including
'Just the Way You Are' with Kristy McNichol in 1984,
'The Gunrunner' in 1989 with Kevin Costner,
'Falling Over Backwards' in 1990 with Saul Rubinek,
'A Star for Two' in 1991 with Anthony Quinn and Lauren Bacall,
'Trial by Jury' in 1994 with William Hurt, Gabriel Byrne and Joanne Whalley,
'Hidden Agenda' in 1999 with Christopher Plummer and Kevin Dillon,
'The Score' in 2001 with Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando and Edward Norton,
'The Incredible Hulk' in 2008 with Edward Norton, Tim Roth and Liv Tyler with
'The Second Time Around' in 2016 being his final feature film role. He would continue to lend his voice to numerous TV characters in the years in between as well as appear in the likes of
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', 'Rin Tin Tin : K-9 Cop', 'L.A. Law', 'Kung-Fu : The Legend Continues', 'Due South', 'F/X : The Series', on sixteen episodes of
'Bad Dog', on thirteen of
'Redwall', on ten of
'Terminal City' and on eight of
'Mr. Meaty'.
* Jerome Hellman - born 4th September 1928, died 26th May 2021, aged 92. Hellman was an American film Producer who notched up just seven credits between 1964 and 1986, plus two as Director and one as Actor. He kicked off in 1964 with
'The World of Henry Orient' with Peter Sellers, and then
'A Fine Madness' in 1966 with Sean Connery and Joanne Woodward, the three time Oscar winning
'Midnight Cowboy' in 1969 with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight,
'The Day of the Locust' in 1975 with Donald Sutherland and Karen Black, the three time Oscar winning
'Coming Home' with Jon Voight and Jane Fonda,
'Promises in the Dark' in 1979 which Hellman also Directed, and
'The Mosquito Coast' in 1986 with Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix. His sole acting gig came in the 1979 film
'Being There' with Peter Sellers. Hellman's seven feature films garnered seventeen Oscar nominations and won six.
* Lorina Kamburova - born 1st February 1991 and died 27th May 2021, aged 30. She was a Bulgarian Actress who is credited with just fourteen roles throughout her short career which began in the 2011 short film
'Hello, Love, Goodbye' and from there she went onto nineteen episodes of the TV series
'Liaisons' between 2015 and 2016, before her film debut in
'Nightworld : Door of Hell' in 2017 with Robert Englund,
'Leatherface' that same year with Stephen Dorff,
'Day of the Dead : Bloodline' also in 2017, the direct to video
'Death Race 4 : Beyond Anarchy' with Danny Glover and Danny Trejo in 2018,
'Doom : Annihilation' in 2019 and
'Love and Monsters' in 2020. Currently in post-production are the fifteen minute short film
'Enslaved' and in pre-production at the time of her death was
'The Giaour'. Kamburova died in a Moscow hospital from pneumonia due to COVID-19.
* Shane Briant - born 17th August 1946, died 27th May 2021, aged 74. Briant was an English Actor and novelist who amassed ninety-one screen acting credits to his name in a career spanning from 1971 when he appeared in Roger Corman's
'Von Richthofen and Brown' with a series of Hammer Horror offerings to follow with
'Straight on Till Morning' and
'Demons of the Mind' both in 1972,
'Capatin Kronos : Vampire Hunter' and
'Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell' both in 1974. In 1973 he appeared in John Huston's
'The MacKintosh Man' with Paul Newman and James Mason with his other more notable feature film outings taking in
'Hawk the Slayer' in 1980 with Jack Palance,
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in 1981 with Sylvia Kristel,
'Shaker Run' in 1985 with Cliff Robertson,
'The Lighthorsemen' in 1987 with Peter Phelps, Brian Trenchard-Smith's
'Out of the Body' in 1989,
'Liquid Bridge' in 2003 with Ryan Kwanten,
'The Children of Huang Shi' in 2008 with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Chow Yun-Fat, Roland Joffe's
'The Lovers' in 2015, with
'Sherlock Holmes vs. Frankenstein' recently announced. In the meantime there were numerous roles in made for TV movies, mini-series and series including
'The Picture of Dorian Gray', 'The Naked Civil Servant', 'Touch and Go', 'Anzacs', 'Mission : Impossible', 'The Flying Doctors', 'Search for Treasure Island', 'Farscape', 'All Saints', 'Underbelly', 'Serangoon Road', 'Gallipoli' and the TV movie
'Mary : The Making of a Princess' in 2015 and the eleven minute short film that same year
'Ataraxia' being his final screen roles. Briant had seven novels published in Australia and one in the United States. In Australia,
'The Webber Agenda', 'The Chasen Catalyst', 'Hitkids', 'Bite of the Lotus', 'Graphic', 'Worst Nightmares' and
'The Dreamhealer', and in the US
'Worst Nightmares'. His final novel
'Live Feed' was released on Amazon in 2015. He had written an autobiography titled
'Always the Bad Guy' which is only available online at Amazon.
* Gavin MacLeod - born
Allen George See on 28th February 1931 and died 29th May 2021, aged 90. MacLeod was an American Actor perhaps best known for playing Captain Merrill Stubing, the ship's captain on 250 episodes of
'The Love Boat' between 1977 and 1987. He gained his first small screen role in 1957 in
'The Walter Winchell File' with his first feature films coming a year later in 1958, albeit in uncredited roles in
'The True Story of Lynn Stuart' and
'Young and Wild'. His first credited big screen role came that same year in
'I Want to Live' and over the years that followed he would appear in other features including
'Pork Chop Hill' in 1959 with Gregory Peck,
'Operation Petticoat' also in 1959 with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis,
'High Time' in 1960 with Bing Cosby,
'McHale's Navy' in 1964 with Ernest Borgnine,
'Deathwatch' in 1966 with Leonard Nimoy and
'The Sand Pebbles' also that year with Steve McQueen,
'The Party' in 1968 with Peter Sellers,
'Kelly's Heroes' in 1970 with Clint Eastwood and then
'The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry' in the title role in 2008 being his final film role. Over the years in between time, there were many TV series and mini-series taking in
'Peter Gunn', 'Dr. Kildare', 'The Untouchables', seventy-three episodes on the series of
'McHale's Navy', 'Rawhide', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', 'Perry Mason', 'Ironside', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'Hogan's Heroes', on 168 episodes of
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'Wonder Woman', 'Charlie's Angels', 'Oz', 'The King of Queens', 'JAG', 'That 70's Show' and
'The Comeback Kids' being his final TV appearance in 2014. MacLeod married his second wife Patti in 1974. The couple divorced in 1982, but remarried in 1985. In 1987, following their remarriage, he and his wife, Patti, wrote about struggles with divorce and alcoholism in
'Back On Course : The Remarkable Story of a Divorce That Ended in Remarriage' and in 2013, MacLeod released his memoir,
'This Is Your Captain Speaking : My Fantastic Voyage Through Hollywood, Faith & Life'.
* Joe Lara - born
William Joseph Lara on 2nd October 1962 and died 29th May 2021, aged 58. Lara was an American Actor and musician probably best known for his role as Tarzan in the American television series over twenty-two episodes
'Tarzan : The Epic Adventures' between 1996 and 1997. This was preceded by the TV movies
'Tarzan in Manhattan' in 1989 in which he also played the title character and was to be his second acting role following a bit part in the 1988 feature film
'Night Wars'. His other big screen roles came with
'Sunset Heat' with Dennis Hopper in 1992,
'American Cyborg : Steel Warrior' in 1993,
'Final Equinox' in 1995,
'Warhead' in 1996,
'Armstrong' in 1998,
'Lima : Breaking the Silence' in 1999,
'Operation Delta Force 4 : Deep Fault' also in 1999,
'Very Mean Men' in 2000 with Matthew Modine and Martin Landau,
'Doomsdayer' that same year, with
'Dead Man's Run' and '
Death Game' both coming in 2001 before he gave up his acting career to pursue a country music one instead. In between there were other made for TV movies of a similar ilk to those features he had been putting out, plus appearances on TV series taking in
'Baywatch', 'Conan' and
'The Magnificent Seven'. Lara resumed his acting career in 2018 with
'Summer of '67' which was to be his final screen role. Lara tragically died when a Cessna Citation 501 I/SP owned by his wife's church, crashed into Percy Priest Lake near Smyrna, Tennessee. His wife, her son-in-law, and four members of the Laras' church also died in the crash.
* Arlene Golonka - born on 23rd January 1936 and died 31st May 2021, aged 85. Golonka was an American Actress of stage, TV and cinema who amassed 118 screen acting credits throughout her career which spanned five decades and which launched in 1959 on
'The United States Steel Hour' in an episode titled
'Apple of His Eye'. She secured her first feature film role in 1963 in an uncredited part in
'Love with the Proper Stranger' with Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood and subsequently her other film roles took in
'Penelope' in 1966 with Natalie Wood again,
'Welcome to Hard Times' in 1967 with Henry Fonda,
'Hang 'Em High' in 1968 with Clint Eastwood,
'Airport '77' in 1977 with Jack Lemmon,
'The In-Laws' in 1979 with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk,
'The Last Married Couple in America' with George Segal and Natalie Wood once more,
'The End of Innocence' in 1990 with Dyan Cannon and John Heard with
'A Family Affair' in 2001 being her last feature film outing. In the intervening years there were again numerous TV movies and series including
'Car 54, Where Are You?', 'The Doctors', 'The Doctors and the Nurses', 'Get Smart', on forty-nine episodes of
'Mayberry R.F.D.', 'The F.B.I.', 'M*A*S*H', 'Love, American Style', 'Police Woman', 'The Streets of San Francisco', 'The Rockford Files', 'Taxi', 'Fantasy Island', 'The Love Boat', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Matlock', and
'The King of Queens' in 2005 being her final screen appearance. Golonka was a regular on the animated cartoon
'Speed Buggy', providing her voice talents and she also lent her voice to other animated series including
'The New Yogi Bear Show', 'Capitol Critters', 'Yogi's Treasure Hunt' and
'The New Scooby-Doo Movies'.
Twenty-four 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, and in some cases are going through the ravages of a third and fourth outbreak. 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, and get vaccinated - 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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