In June, 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 . . . . . Damaris Hayman, Clarence Williams III, Douglas S. Cramer, Ben Roberts, Lucinda Riley, Dennis Berry, John Gabriel, Ned Beatty, David Lightfoot, Lisa Banes, Dinah Shearing, Frank Bonner, Allen Midgette, Joanne Linville, Jackie Lane, Clare Peploe, John Langley, Alison Greenspan, Menelik Shabazz and Stuart Damon.
* Damaris Hayman - born 16th June 1929, and died 3rd June 2021, aged 91. Hayman was an English Actress who was more often than not cast in upper class or eccentric roles and who began her career in 1953 in two episodes of the TV series
'The Story of the Treasure Seekers'. Following this she notched up another 119 screen acting credits taking in her first uncredited film roles in
'The Belles of St. Trinian's' and
'Mad About Men' both in 1954. Over the ensuing years she would appear in a number of other feature films albeit in uncredited roles until her first credited role in 1965 in Otto Preminger's
'Bunny Lake Is Missing' with Noel Coward and Laurence Olivier. Over the years that followed she also scored appearances in
'Mutiny on the Buses' in 1972,
'The Pink Panther Strikes Again' in 1976 for Blake Edwards and with Peter Sellers,
'The Haunting of Julia' in 1977 with Mia Farrow,
'The Missionary' in 1982 with Michael Palin and Maggie Smith with the direct to video film
'White Witch of Devil's End' in 2017 being her final screen performance. In the years in between there were also numerous roles on TV series taking in
'Emergency-Ward 10', 'Crossroads', 'Steptoe and Son', 'Z Cars', 'Ours Is a Nice House', 'The Liver Birds', 'Doctor Who', 'The Onedin Line', 'The Sweeney', 'The Young Ones', 'The Bill', 'The House of Elliot', 'One Foot in the Grave' and
'Nelson's Column'.
* Clarence Williams III - born 21st August 1939, died 4th June 2021, aged 81. Williams was an American Actor who generated ninety-nine screen acting credits to his name in a career spanning six decades and launching with an uncredited role in 1959's
'Pork Chop Hill' with Gregory Peck. He would follow this up over the ensuing years with other notable feature films including his first credited role in 1963's
'The Cool World', and then
'Purple Rain' in 1984 with Prince,
'52 Pick-Up' for John Frankenheimer,
'I'm Gonna Git You Sucka' in 1988 with and for Keenan Ivory Wayans,
'Maniac Cop 2' in 1990 with Robert Davi,
'Deadfall' in 1993 with Michael Biehn, Nicolas Cage, Charlie Sheen, Peter Fonda and James Coburn,
'The Immortals' in 1995 with Eric Roberts, Chris Rock, Tony Curtis, and Tia Carrere,
'The Brave' for and with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando in 1997,
'Hoodlum' that same year with Laurence Fishburne, Tim Roth and Andy Garcia,
'The Legend of 1900' in 1998 with Tim Roth,
'The General's Daughter' in 1999 with John Travolta, James Woods, Madeline Stowe, and James Cromwell,
'Reindeer Games' in 2000 for John Frankenheimer with Ben Affleck, an uncredited turn in
'American Gangster' in 2007 for Ridley Scott with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe,
'The Way of War' in 2009 with Cuba Gooding Jnr.,
'The Butler' in 2013 with Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack and Jane Fonda with
'American Nightmares' in 2018 with Danny Trejo being his final screen role. In the meantime there were also 123 episodes on
'The Mod Squad' between 1968 and 1973, plus
'Hill Street Blues', 'T.J. Hooker', 'Miami Vice', 'Twin Peaks', 'Star Trek : Deep Space Nine', 'Millennium', 'Law & Order', 'Mystery Woman', 'Burn Notice', 'Cold Case' and
'Empire'.
* Douglas S. Cramer - born 22nd August 1931 and died on 4th June 2021, aged 89. Cramer was an American television Producer who was one of the most prolific and most successful Producers in the history of television, as well as being a renowned collector of contemporary art who served on the Board of numerous museums. His career launched in 1969 as Executive Vice President in charge of Production on an number of TV series including multiple episodes of
'Love, American Style', 'The Immortal', 'The Odd Couple', 'The Young Lawyers' and
'The Brady Bunch'. From 1972 onwards he moved into Producing, at first a string of made for TV movies including
'Call Her Mom', and then
'Man on a String', 'Movin' On', 'Keeping Up with the Joneses', and
'Help, Inc.' In the years that followed he also Produced the likes of
'Bridget Loves Bernie', sixty episodes of
'Wonder Woman', sixty-nine of
'Vega$', twenty of
'Strike Force', sixty-seven of
'Matt Houston', 250 of
'The Love Boat', forty-nine of
'The Colbys', 115 of
'Hotel', 217 of
'Dynasty' with too many TV movies in between time to mention. His final credit came in 1999 with the TV film
'Family of Cops III : Under Suspicion'. Cramer also established the Douglas S. Cramer Foundation with two buildings and five different exhibition spaces on his 420-acre ranch, called La Quinta Norte, near Los Olivos, California.
* Ben Roberts - born Bennett Roberts on 1st July 1950 and died 7th June 2021, aged 70. Roberts was a Welsh Actor of television and film who was perhaps best known for his appearance in 459 episodes of
'The Bill' as Chief Inspector Derek Conway between 1987 and 2002. All up Roberts notched up just eighteen screen acting credits during his career which launched in 1978 on a single episode of
'A Woman's Place?'. He would follow this up with other small screen roles on the likes of
'The Professionals', 'Angels', 'Hard Cases', 'Tales of Sherwood Forest', 'Doctors' and
'Casualty'. In between there were a handful of feature film roles, being
'Another Year' in 2010 for Director Mike Leigh,
'Jane Eyre' in 2011 with Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Jamie Bell,
'A Little Chaos' in 2014 for and with Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet and Stanley Tucci,
'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' in 2016 for Tim Burton and with Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson, and
'Daniel' in 2019 being his final screen role.
* Lucinda Riley - born 16th February 1966 and died 11th June 2021, aged 55. Riley was a former Irish Actress and best selling Author of historical fiction, who generated just three screen acting roles during her short lived career in front of the camera, on six episodes of
'The Story of the Treasure Seekers' in 1982, then on a single episode of
'Auf Wiedersehen, Pet' in 1983 and
'Jumping the Queue' in 1989. She penned her first novel in 1992
'Lovers and Players' and went on to write a further sixteen novels plus,
'The Seven Sisters Series' of books consisting seven books which she wrote from 2014 up until 2021. In 2016, producer Raffaella De Laurentiis purchased the television rights to her novel series
'The Seven Sisters'.
* John Gabriel - born
John Monkarsh on 25th May 1931 and died 11th June 2021, aged 90. Gabriel was an American Actor, singer and a one time Producer of the TV series
'Charles Grodin Show' which he did so for six years. He gained his first screen acting role in 1953's TV series
'You Are There' with his first feature film role coming in 1958's
'South Pacific' with
'The Hunters' that same year with Robert Mitchum and Robert Wagner. Following a number of uncredited roles he appeared in the Biblical offering
'The Story of Ruth' in 1960, then
'Sex and the College Girl' in 1964 with Charles Grodin,
'Stagecoach' in 1966,
'El Dorado' also in 1966 with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and James Caan,
'Hell's Bloody Devils' in 1970,
'Doomsday Voyage' in 1972 with Joseph Cotten, an uncredited role in 1976's
'Network' with Peter Finch, William Holden and Faye Dunaway,
'It's My Turn' in 1980 with Michael Douglas and Charles Grodin with
'The Return of Superfly' in 1990 being his final big screen role with Samuel L. Jackson and Nathan Purdee. In the years in between there were also small screen appearances in the likes of
'The Untouchables', 'General Hospital', '77 Sunset Strip', 'The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'The Love Boat', 'Hart to Hart', on 757 episodes of
'Ryan's Hope' between 1975 and 1989,
'The Bold and the Beautiful', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Days of Our Lives', and lending his voice to the video game
'Red Dead Redemption' in 2010. As a singer he appeared on numerous TV shows, including
'The Ed Sullivan Show', 'The Merv Griffin Show', 'The Mike Douglas Show', and
'Regis and Kathy Lee' and in 2004, Gabriel wrote and produced, along with his actress wife Sandy Gabriel, a nightclub act which he regularly toured across the United States, titled
'Words And Music', a celebration of classic American song interspersed with stories taken from his vast experience in show business.
* Dennis Berry - born 11th August 1944 and died 12th June 2021, aged 76. Berry was an American French Director, Actor, Writer and occasional Producer who scored his first screen acting gig in the 1967 feature
'The Collector'. He followed this up with a string of largely French feature films for the remaining '60's before turning his hand at Directing his first film in 1975
'The Big Delirium' with Jean Seberg and Isabelle Huppert. Other features and TV series followed including
'Last Song' in 1987 with Anna Karina,
'Vendetta' in 2001 and
'Wild' in 2018, plus
'Rin Tin Tin : K-9 Cop', then eighteen episodes of
'Crossbow', two on
'Stargate SG-1', thirty-four on
'Highlander' and then six on
'Highlander : Raven' all between 1993 and 1999 with multiple episodes of
'Lance of Longinus', 'Duval and Moretti' and
'Mata Hari' right up until 2017. Berry was married to Jean Seberg and Anna Karina until the time of their passing in August 1979 and December 2019 respectively.
* Ned Beatty - born 6th July 1937 and died 13th June 2021, aged 83. Beatty was an American Actor of stage, cinema and television who accumulated 165 screen acting credits throughout his career which launched with a starring role in the Burt Reynold's 1972 cult film
'Deliverance'. He would follow this up that same year with
'The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean' with Paul Newman, then the likes of other notable Hollywood offerings taking in
'The Thief Who Came to Dinner', 'White Lightning' and
'W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings' both with Burt Reynolds again,
'Nashville', 'All the President's Men', 'Network', 'Silver Streak', 'Exorcist II : The Heretic', 'Superman', '1941', 'Superman II', 'Stroker Ace' with Burt Reynolds once more,
'The Big Easy', 'The Fourth Protocol', 'Hear My Song', 'Prelude to a Kiss', 'Rudy', 'Just Cause', 'Cookie's Fortune', 'Life', 'Thunderpants', 'Shooter', 'Charlie Wilson's War', 'In the Electric Mist', 'The Killer Inside Me', then lending his voice to
'Toy Story 3' and
'Rango' with
'Rampart', and
'Baggage Claim' being his final screen role in 2013 before announcing his retirement. Over the years he also had roles in TV series including
'The Waltons', 'Gunsmoke', 'M*A*S*H', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'The Rockford Files', on fifteen episodes as the title character on
'Szysznyk', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'The Boys', 'Roseanne', and on thirty-three episodes of
'Homicide : Life on the Street'. Beatty was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for
'Network' plus two PrimeTime Emmy and a Golden Globe nod. He won a Drama Desk Award for
'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' (2004) in the Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play category. Beatty was married four times and had eight children, and was described as being 'the busiest Actor in Hollywood'.
* David Lightfoot - born sometime in 1960 and died on 13th June 2021, aged 61. Lightfoot was an Australian film Producer who generated twenty-seven screen production credits to his name, in a career that began in 1993 with his Associate Producer credit on
'Bad Boy Bubby'. He followed this up over the next three decades with the likes of
'The Sound of One Hand Clapping' in 1998,
'Sample People' in 2000 with Kylie Minogue and Ben Mendelsohn,
'Japanese Story' in 2003 with Toni Collette,
'Wolf Creek' in 2005 with John Jarratt,
'Rogue' in 2007 with Sam Worthington and John Jarratt,
'Coffin Rock' in 2009,
'Turkey Shoot' in 2014 with Dominic Purcell,
'A Few Less Men' in 2017,
'Outlaws' that same year with Ryan Corr and Matt Nable,
'Bad Blood' in 2017 also and
'Never Too Late' in 2020 with James Cromwell, Shane Jacobson and Jacki Weaver being his final Producer credit.
* Lisa Banes - born 9th July 1955 and died 14th June 2021, aged 65. Banes was an American Actress of film, television and theatre who appeared on Broadway several times in the Neil Simon play
'Rumors' in 1988, in the musical
'High Society' with Anna Kendrick in 1998, in
'Accent on Youth' with David Hyde Pierce in 2009, and most recently in the 2010 revival of
'Present Laughter' with Victor Garber. Her film and TV roles took in 86 credits, with feature film appearances including her 1984 screen debut in
'The Hotel New Hampshire', then
'Marie' with Sissy Spacek, Morgan Freeman and Jeff Daniels,
'Cocktail' with Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown,
'Young Guns' with Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips and Charlie Sheen,
'Miami Rhapsody' with Sarah Jessica Parker, Mia Farrow and Antonio Banderas,
'Without Limits' with Billy Crudup and Donald Sutherland,
'Dragonfly' with Kevin Costner,
'Freedom Writers' with Hilary Swank,
'Gone Girl' with Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike with
'A Cure for Wellness' in 2016 with Dane DeHaan and Jason Isaacs being her last big screen role. In the years in between there were also multiple roles in TV movies and TV series taking in the likes of
'The Equalizer', on thirty-four episodes of '
The Trials of Rosie O'Neill', 'L.A. Law', 'Roseanne', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Frasier', on twenty-eight episodes of
'Son of the Beach', 'The Practice', on thirteen of
'One Life to Live', 'NYPD Blue', 'The King of Queens', 'Boston Legal', 'The Unit', 'Desperate Housewives', 'The Good Wife', 'Masters of Sex', 'Madam Secretary', 'The Orville', with a single episode on
'Them' this year. On 4th June 2021 she was critically injured in New York City when she was struck in a hit and run by a motorised scooter which drove through a red light while she was crossing Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and was unable to recover, dying ten days later.
* Dinah Shearing - born 12th February 1926, died 14th June 2021, aged 95. Shearing was an Australian Actress of radio, television, cinema and theatre. She was especially active on stage working with Sydney and Melbourne Theatre companies, Elizabethan Theatre Trust, Independent Theatre and many others from 1948 through until 2008. Her screen roles were more limited over the years with only twenty-eight credits to her name ranging from her debut appearance in the TV movie
'A Phoenix Too Frequent' in 1957, to her feature film debut in 1983's
'Buddies' with Colin Friels and then
'A Spy in the Family' in 1985 and
'The Long Wet' in 2001. Leading up to that initial big screen role and subsequently she has appeared in the likes of
'The Sullivans', 'Singles', 'Five Mile Creek', 'Rafferty's Rules', 'E Street', 'A Country Practice', 'Wildside', 'All Saints', with
'Farscape' in 2002 being her final screen role. Shearing was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to the performing arts. At the time of her passing, she had been active in community arts programmes, volunteer work and had also branched into Directing a number of stage plays.
* Frank Bonner - born
Frank Woodrow Boers Jnr. on 28th February 1942 and died 16th June 2021, aged 79. Bonner was an American Actor and TV Director with fifty-nine screen acting credits and twenty as Director during his career which launched in 1967 in the film
'The Equinox . . . A Journey Into the Supernatural' and he followed this up in 1970 playing that same character again in
'Equinox'. His other feature film roles included 1972's
'The Hoax', 'Little Cigars' in 1973,
'Las Vegas Lady' in 1975 with Stella Stevens,
'The Longshot' in 1986,
'Going Under' in 1991 with Bill Pullman, Robert Vaughn and Ned Beatty,
'Shut Up and Kiss Me!' in 2004,
'Remembering Phil' in 2008 with
'Under the Hollywood Sign' in 2014 being his final screen role. In the intervening years there were also many TV movies and TV series taking in
'The Young Lawyers', 'Mannix', 'Cannon', 'Police Woman', 'Fantasy Island' and then perhaps the role for which he is best remembered as Herb Tarlek on eighty-eight episodes between 1978 and 1982 of
'WKRP in Cincinnati' and a role he would reprise on a further forty-six episodes of
'The New WKRP in Cincinnati' between 1991 and 1993 (of which he would Direct a total thirteen). There was also
'The Love Boat', 'Matt Houston', 'Scarecrow and Mrs. King', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Sidekicks', 'Just the Ten of Us' and
'Saved by the Bell : The New Class'. In addition he also Directed eight episodes of
'Just the Ten of Us', eleven of
'Harry and the Hendersons', and 105 of
'City Guys' between 1997 and 2001. Bonner was married five times and had five children (four biological), seven grandchildren and one great grandchild, at the time of his death.
* Allen Midgette - born 2nd February 1939, died 16th June 2021, aged 82. Midgette was an American Actor perhaps best known for playing Andy Warhol on a 1968 University lecture tour after the attempted murder of the artist that same year. Midgette notched up just thirteen screen acting credits to his name taking in his debut feature film role in 1962's '
The Grim Reaper' for Bernardo Bertolucci, and then
'Before the Revolution' for Bertolucci again in 1964, then
'The Nude Restaurant' for Andy Warhol in 1967,
'****' for Andy Warhol again also in 1967,
'Lonesome Cowboys' in 1968 for Warhol once more,
'7254' in 1971,
'1900' for Bertolucci once again in 1976 with Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu,
'Suffocating Heat' in 1991 in which he played Andy Warhol and the Blondie music video in 2011 for
'Mother' in which he again plays Andy Warhol being his final screen appearance.
* Joanne Linville - born 15th January 1928, died 20th June 2021, aged 93. Linville was an American Actress of film and television and who with fellow Actress Irene Gilbert co-founded the Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles in 1985. Linville amassed eighty-four screen acting credits throughout her career which kicked off in an uncredited role in 1950 in the feature film
'Copper Canyon' with Ray Milland and Hedy Lamarr. From here, she would go onto roles in other feature films including over the years,
'The Goddess' in 1958 with Lloyd Bridges, Michael Winner's
'Scorpio' in 1973 with Burt Lancaster,
'Gable and Lombard' in 1976 with James Brolin and Jill Clayburgh,
'A Star Is Born' in 1976 with Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand with
'The Seduction' in 1982 being her final feature film outing. In the meantime and since there were also appearances on TV shows including
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', 'Have Gun - Will Travel', 'The Twilight Zone', 'Laramie', 'Dr. Kildare', 'Route 66', 'The Fugitive', 'Bonanza', 'The Invaders', 'Star Trek : The Original Series', 'Gunsmoke', 'The F.B.I.', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'Columbo', 'Kojak', 'CHiPs', 'Barnaby Jones', 'Charlie's Angels', 'Dynasty', 'L.A Law', with a single episode on
'Starship Excelsior' in 2016 being her final acting role. Linville was married to Actor/Director Mark Rydell from 1962 until their divorce in 1973. Linville played gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in the 2001 television movie
'James Dean' with James Franco playing the title role and Rydell directed the film. She was the author of an instructional/biographical book published in 2011 titled
'Joanne Linville's Seven Steps to an Acting Craft'.
* Jackie Lane - born 10th July 1941 and died 23rd June 2021, aged 79. Lane was an English Actress of television who garnered just six screen acting credits to her name during the 1960's. She starred with Charlie Drake in the TV production
'Grandad was a Wrestler' in 1959, was a panelist on
'Juke Box Jury' in 1961 and got her first acting break in the TV mini-series
'The Caucasian Chalk Circle' in 1962, before taking a role in the early BBC soap opera
'Compact' in 1963 across nine episodes. She then took roles in single episodes of
'Coronation Street', 'The Protectors' and
'The Villains' in 1964 and '65, before perhaps her most well known role as Dodo Chaplet, a companion of the Doctor on nineteen episodes of
'Doctor Who' in 1966 opposite William Hartnell as the Doctor. After leaving
'Doctor Who', which was to be her final screen appearance, Lane went to work as a secretary at the Australian Embassy in Paris before retuning home to England to became a theatrical agent, representing Tom Baker, who would play the Fourth Doctor, and Janet Fielding, who would play companion Tegan Jovanka. The agency which she managed was Jackie Lane Ad Voice. In 2013, the BBC made a 'docudrama' titled
'An Adventure in Space and Time', telling the story of the creation and early days of
'Doctor Who', as part of the programme's 50th anniversary celebrations.
* Clare Peploe - born sometime in 1942, died 23rd June 2021, aged 79. Peploe was a British Italian Screen writer, Director and one time Producer whose writing career launched in 1970 with the co-credit for the cult film
'Zabriskie Point'. In 1976 she served as Second Unit Director on
'1900' for Bernardo Bertolucci who was two years later to become her husband, until his passing in 2018. Her next writing credit came with 1979's
'Luna' again Directed by her then husband Bertolucci with her first outing as Director on the twenty-nine minute short film
'Couples and Robbers' which she also co-wrote and which garnered an Oscar and a BAFTA nod for Best Short Film, Live Action.
'High Season' followed in 1987 with Jacqueline Bisset and James Fox, then
'Rough Magic' in 1995 with Russell Crowe, Bridget Fonda and Jim Broadbent, with
'The Triumph of Love' in 2001 with Mia Sorvino and Ben Kingsley being her final feature film offering. Peploe both Directed and wrote the screenplays for the last three mentioned films here. Her one Producer credit was on the Bertolucci Directed 1998 film, which she also co-wrote,
'Besieged', with Thandie Newton and David Thewlis.
* John Langley - born 1st June 1943 and died 26th June 2021, aged 78. Langley was an American television and film Producer, Writer and Director who accumulated thirty-eight production credits, twelve as writer and five as Director during a career which launched in 1983 with the documentary film
'Cocaine Blues' which he Produced, wrote and Directed. His other four film making credits are
'Stop the Madness' a video short from 1986,
'Maximum Potential' in 1987 about the work out routines of Dolph Lundgren,
'American Expose : Who Murdered JFK' in 1988 and the video film
'Dog Watch' in 1997 with Sam Elliott and Paul Sorvino. His Producer work over the years took in the likes of
'Wild Side' with Christopher Walken,
'Gunfighter's Moon' with Lance Henriksen,
'Tiptoes' with Matthew McConaughey, Gary Oldman, Peter Dinklage and Kate Beckinsale,
'Brooklyn's Finest' with Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes, and
'Leaves of Grass' with Edward Norton and Keri Russell being his final feature film credit in 2009 before going onto Executive Produce thirty-five episodes of
'Las Vegas Jailhouse', eight of
'Undercover Stings', seventeen of
'Vegas Strip', seventy-one of
'Jail' and perhaps his most noted work as creator and Producer on 201 episodes of
'Cops' which premiered in early 1989 and aired until May 2020. Langley won various awards for the
'Cops' TV series, including the American Television Award and four Emmy Award nominations. His DVD's, have won various awards for greatest sales records in the mid-1990's when he founded Real Entertainment and pioneered the reality DVD market with VHS releases of multiple reality titles like
'Cops: Too Hot for TV' and
'The Amazing Video Collection'. Langley died of a heart attack while competing in the coast to coast Ensenada, Baja California to San Felipe 250kms off road race.
* Alison Greenspan - born 2nd December 1972, died 27th June 2021, aged 48. Greenspan was an American film and television Producer who notched up eighteen production credits throughout her career which kicked off in 2003 with
'What a Girl Wants' featuring Amanda Bynes, Colin Firth, Kelly Preston and Jonathan Pryce. She would follow this up with the likes of
'Catwoman' in 2004 with Halle Berry,
'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' in 2005 with Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera and Blake Lively, then
'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2' in 2008 featuring the same cast reprising their roles,
'Nights in Rodanthe' with Richard Gere and Diane Lane also in 2008,
'The Lucky One' in 2012 with Zac Efron,
'If I Stay' in 2014 with Chloe Grace Moretz,
'You're Not You' in 2014 too with Hilary Swank,
'Unforgettable' in 2017 with Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson and then twenty-three episodes of the TV series
'For Life' last year and this being her final screen credit.
* Menelik Shabazz - born sometime in 1954 in Barbados and died 28th June 2021, aged 67. Shabazz was a British film Director, Producer and Writer acknowledged as a pioneer in the development of independent Black British cinema. In 1976 he Directed
'Step Forward Youth', a thirty minute short documentary about London-born black youths, and in 1978 he Directed
'Breaking Point' which was shown on prime-time British TV and contributed to the repeal of the Sus Law that was being used to criminalise Black youth. Shabazz's first feature-length film was
'Burning an Illusion', which he wrote and Directed and was released to acclaim in 1981 and was hailed as 'one of the most important feature films ever made in Britain'. It was only the second British feature film to have been made by a black Director.
'Blood Ah Go Run', the thirteen minute short documentary made in 1981, charts the response of the Black community to the New Cross fire in London, including the 'Black People's Day of Action', and the subsequent uprising in Brixton. It would not be until 2011 that he would helm his next doco, that being
'The Story of Lovers Rock', with
'Looking for Love' in 2015 and
'Pharaohs Unveiled' in 2019 being his final film making, writing and production credit. In 1998, Shabazz founded Black Filmmaker Magazine (bfm), the first black film publication aimed at the global black filmmaking industry, and over the next decade the publication was distributed in Europe and the US. In 1999 he started the bfm International Film Festival as a platform for screening black world cinema and to inspire British talent, which became the biggest of its kind in Europe.
* Stuart Damon - born
Stuart Michael Zonis on 5th February 1937 and died 29th June 2021, aged 84. Damon was an American actor of film, theatre and television who amassed forty-two screen acting credits to his name over a career spanning six decades and which launched on a single episode of
'Naked City' in 1962. He would follow this up with the made for TV movie
'Cinderella' in 1965 and subsequent feature films including
'Young Doctors in Love' in 1982,
'Star 80' in 1983,
'Silent Assassins' in 1988,
'Chairman of the Board' in 1998 with
'Rain from Stars' in 2013 being his final screen role. Over the years in between, there were both single and multiple episodes on the likes of
'Man in a Suitcase', 'The Saint', 'Department S', then on thirty of perhaps his best known role as Craig Stirling on
'The Champions' between 1968 and 1969,
'UFO', 'Space : 1999', on thirteen of
'Yanks Go Home', 'Fantasy Island', on eighty-three episodes of
'Port Charles', 'Days of Our Lives', on twenty of
'As the World Turns' and then on 381 of his equally renowned role on
'General Hospital' between 1977 and 2013. Damon won three awards and was nominated a further twelve times - all for his role on
'General Hospital' for which he won the Daytime Emmy Award in 1999.
Twenty 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, as we are in Sydney right now - watch a movie on your favoured streaming service from the comfort of your own home.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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