The Odeon Online Obituary : Remembering the screen celebrities who passed away in July 2021.

In July, 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 . . . . . Philece Sampler, Vladimir Menshov, Richard Donner, Suzzanne Douglas, Chick Vennera, Robert Downey Snr., Charles Robinson, Biz Markie, Tom O'Connor, Mary Ward, John Cornell, Jackie Mason, Dieter Brummer, Rick Aiello, David Von Ancken, Saginaw Grant, Ray McBride, Clive Scott and Jay Pickett.

* Philece Sampler - born 16th July 1953 and died 1st July 2021. Sampler was an American film, television and voice Actress who accumulated 196 screen acting roles throughout her career which kicked off with a role in the feature film providing a voice in the English version of 'Nightmares Come at Night' in 1970. Her first in person role came in 1978's feature film 'The Seniors' and over the following years she would have appearances in the likes of 'Fantasy Island', 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Knots Landing', 'T.J. Hooker', then on 333 episodes of 'Days of Our Lives' between 1981 and 1984, on twenty-six of 'Another World', then in the movie 'Tom and Huck' in 1997, 'The Interior', and then 'Lily's Light' in 2010 and 'Lily's Light : The Movie' in 2020 which she starred in, wrote the Screenplays for and also Co-Produced. In the meantime the bulk of her numerous other credits were in lending her voice talents to animated series, live action series overdubbed into English, and video games including 'Transformers : Robots in Disguise', 'Digimon Adventure 02', 'Digimon : Digital Monsters', 'Stanley', 'Treehouse Detectives', with 'Miraculous : Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir' being her final voice work across eighty-two episodes from 2015 up until this year. Sampler collected four award wins and another three nominations at the 'Behind the Voice Actor Awards'.

* Vladimir Menshov - was a Russian film and television Actor, Director, Screenwriter and Producer who accumulated ninety-seven screen acting credits, ten as Producer, nine as Writer and eight as Director. His debut as Director came in 1977's 'Practical Joke' and in 1980 his feature film 'Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears' which he Directed and stars in won the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. His other big screen work which garnered international recognition were Timur Bekmambetov's 'Night Watch' in 2004 and its follow up 'Day Watch' in 2006, followed by the local likes of 'The Apocalypse Code', 'O Lucky Man!', 'Lucky Trouble', 'Generation P', 'Legend No. 17', 'Mobius', and 'After You're Gone' in 2016. Menshov died from complications arising from COVID-19.

* Richard Donner - born Richard Donald Schwartzberg on 24th April 1930 and died 5th July 2021, aged 91. Donner was an American Director and Producer of film and television who notched up eighty-two Director credits, thirty-seven as Producer and sixteen (mostly uncredited) acting credits. His directorial debut came in 1960 in a single episode of 'Zane Grey Theatre' and throughout the sixties he would work on such TV shows including 'Wanted : Dead or Alive', 'Route 66', 'Wagon Train', 'The Rifleman', 'Have Gun, Will Travel', 'The Twilight Zone', 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.', 'Gilligan's Island', 'Get Smart', and 'The Wild Wild West'. He made his first foray in feature films with the 1961 Directed 'X-15' with Charles Bronson and Mary Tyler Moore, with his second film making outing being 'Salt and Pepper' in 1968 with Sammy Davis Jnr. and Peter Lawford. 1970 saw 'London Affair' with Charles Bronson and Honor Blackman with 'The Omen' in 1976 being his breakout film making credit starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and David Warner. He followed this up with 'Superman' in 1978 which propelled Actor Christopher Reeve to international stardom and which also starred Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty and Terrence Stamp. 'Inside Moves' came next followed by 'The Toy' with Richard Pryor, 'Ladyhawke' with Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer, 'The Goonies' with Sean Astin, Josh Brolin and Corey Feldman, and then the very very popular and successful buddy cop film franchise 'Lethal Weapon' with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover which launched in1987 and saw 'Lethal Weapon 2' in 1989, 'Lethal Weapon 3' in 1992 and 'Lethal Weapon 4' in 1998. There was also 'Scrooged' with Bill Murray, 'Maverick' with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster, 'Assassins' with Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas, 'Conspiracy Theory' with Mel Gibson again and Julia Roberts, 'Timeline' with Paul Walker, Gerard Butler and Billy Connelly, with '16 Blocks' starring Bruce Willis and David Morse in 2006 being his final directorial outing. Donner also became the Executive Producer for the 2000 Marvel Comics film 'X-Men', then also an Executive Producer for the 2009 X-Men prequel, 'X-Men Origins : Wolverine'. In addition, Donner's wife, Lauren Shuler Donner, has produced all of the films in the 'X-Men' film series under their Donners' Company brand. In November 2010, Donner's authorised biography 'You're the Director ... You Figure It Out : The Life and Films of Richard Donner' by James Christie was published and features a foreword by Mel Gibson. Donner collected ten award wins and another seven nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit.

* Suzzanne Douglas - born 12th April 1957, died 6th July 2021, aged 64. Douglas was an American Actress of film, television and occasional theatre, who amassed forty-two screen acting credits to her name since her career kicked off in the made for TV movie 'Purlie' in 1981. Her first big screen role came with 'Tap' in 1989 with Sammy Davis Jnr. and Gregory Hines for which she won an NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, followed by 'Chain of Desire' in 1992, then 'I'll Do Anything' in 1994 with Nick Nolte, Albert Brooks, Tracey Ullman and Ian McKellen and 'The Inkwell' and 'Jason's Lyric' that same year, 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' in 1998 with Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg and Taye Diggs, 'School of Rock' for Richard Linklater and with Jack Black, 'Changing the Game' in 2012,  then the biopic TV movie 'Whitney' Directed by Angela Bassett, 'Happy Yummy Chicken' in 2016 and 'Really Love' in 2020 being her final screen appearance. In the intervening years there were roles in TV series including seventeen episodes on 'Against the Law', 'Promised Land', on ninety episodes of 'The Parent 'Hood', 'Touched by an Angel', 'Law & Order : SVU', 'The Good Wife', 'Bones', 'Bull' and the mini-series 'When They See Us' in 2019. 

* Chick Vennera - born Francis Vennera on 27th March 1947 and died 7th July 2021, aged 74. Vennera was an American Actor, one time Writer and Director, singer, musician and dancer and acting teacher at the acclaimed Beverly Hills Playhouse Acting School. Throughout his career he notched up seventy-four screen acting roles with his debut coming in 1975 on the TV series 'Lucas Tanner'. His big screen debut came with 1979's 'Yanks' for John Schlesinger and with Richard Gere, followed by 'High Risk' in 1981 with James Brolin, Anthony Quinn, James Coburn, Ernest Borgnine and Lindsay Wagner, then 'Free Ride', 'Kidnapped', 'The Milagro Beanfield War' in 1988 for Robert Redford, 'Last Rites' with Tom Berenger, 'The Terror Within II', 'McBain' with Christopher Walken, 'Time Under Fire' with Jeff Fahey and Bryan Cranston, 'Intrepid' with James Coburn with 'Glass Trap' in 2005 being his final screen role, before lending his voice to the English version of the video game 'Bayonetta' in 2009. In the meantime there were many direct to video movies and appearances on TV shows including 'Arthur Haley's the Moneychangers', 'Vega$', 'T.J. Hooker', 'Diff'rent Strokes', 'The Golden Girls', 'The Untouchables', 'JAG', and 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' as well as lending his voice talents to animated series 'The Karate Kid', 'Foofur', 'The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest', 'Animaniacs', 'Batman Beyond' and 'Static Shock'. 

* Robert Downey Snr. - born Robert Elias Jnr. on 24th June 1936 and died 7th July 2021, aged 85. Downey was an American Actor, Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, and the father of Actor and Iron Man himself Robert Downey Jr. Throughout his career which began in 1961 with his short film which he Directed, Produced, wrote and starred in 'Balls Bluff' he notched up a total of twenty screen acting credits, eighteen as Director, fourteen as Writer, five as Producer and four as Cinematographer. His first full length feature film was 'Babo 73' in 1964 which he also wrote and Produced followed by his other film making offerings including 'Sweet Smell of Sex' in 1965, then 'Chafed Elbows', 'No More Excuses', 'Putney Swope', 'Pound', 'Up the Academy', 'America', 'Too Much Sun' with 'Hugo Pool' being his final feature film in 1997 with his son Robert Downey Jnr., Sean Penn and Malcolm McDowell, before his documentary in 2005 'Rittenhouse Square' being his final film credit as a Director. As an Actor his on screen credits took in 'To Live and Die in L.A.', 'Johnny Be Good' with Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jnr. and Uma Thurman, 'Hail Caesar' in 1994 with Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jnr. again, 'The Sunchaser' with Woody Harrelson and Anne Bancroft, 'Boogie Nights' with Burt Reynolds, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore and Heather Graham, 'Magnolia' with Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, 'The Family Man' with Nicolas Cage and Tea Leone, 'From Other Worlds' and his final feature film role 'Tower Heist' in 2011 with an ensemble cast including Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Casey Affleck, Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Michael Pena, Judd Hirsch and Tea Leone and Directed by Brett Ratner. Daughter Allyson and son Robert Jr. each made their film debuts in his 1970 absurdist comedy 'Pound' at the ages of seven and five respectively. Allyson would appear in one more film by her father, 'Up the Academy' with Robert Jr.'s lengthy acting career line up including appearances in eight films Directed by his father as well as two acting appearances in movies where his father was also an Actor.

* Charlie Robinson - born 9th November 1945 and died 11th July 2021, aged 75. Robinson was an American Actor of theatre, cinema and television who amassed 126 screen acting credits throughout his career lasting from his big screen debut in the 1971 film 'Drive, He Said' Directed by Jack Nicholson. He would follow this up with other roles in feature films taking in the likes of 'Sugar Hill' in 1974, 'The Black Gestapo' in 1975, 'Gray Lady Down' in 1978 with Charlton Heston, David Carradine, Stacy Keach and Ned Beatty, 'Apocalypse Now' for Francis Ford Coppola, 'The River' in 1984 with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek, 'Set It Off' in 1996 for F. Gary Gray, 'Beowulf' in 1999 with Christopher Lambert and Rhona Mitra, 'Antwone Fisher' for and with Denzel Washington in 2002, 'Even Money' with Kim Basinger, Forest Whitaker, Ray Liota, Danny DeVito, Tim Roth and Kelsey Grammer in 2006, 'The House Bunny' with Anna Faris, Emma Stone and Colin Hanks, with 'Senior Entourage' being his final film credit this year with Edward Asner, Helen Reddy, Mark Rydell and Marion Ross. In post-production currently are the fifteen minute short Sci-Fi film 'Sleepwalker' and feature film comedy 'Underwater Upside Down' both due for a release later this year or early next. In the years in between there were numerous appearances on TV shows including 'Canon', 'Lou Grant', 'Flamingo Road', 'Hill Street Blues', on eighteen episodes of 'Buffalo Bill', on 180 episodes of 'Night Court', on fifty-seven episodes of 'Love & War', on twenty-two of 'Ink', 'Home Improvement', 'Charmed', 'House', 'How I Met Your Mother', '30 Rock', on sixteen episodes of 'Hart of Dixie', 'NCIS' and 'Love in the Time of Corona' in 2020. 

* Biz Markie - born Marcel Theo Hall on 8th April 1964 and died 16th July 2021, aged 57. Markie was an American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, record producer and Actor. He was perhaps best known for his 1989 single 'Just a Friend', which became a Top 40 hit in several countries. Over the years he accumulated thirty-one screen acting credits, some of which were for music videos for his own songs or compilations, with others including his feature film debut in 1993's 'The Meteor Man' with Robert Townsend, James Earl Jones and Don Cheadle, the TV series 'In Living Colour' with Keenan Ivory Wayans and Jim Carey in 1994, 'Men in Black II' in 2002 with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, on fifty-two episodes as the Announcer lending his voice to 'Crank Yankers' between 2004 and 2007, in an uncredited role in 'Seven Pounds' in 2008 with Will Smith again, the TV movie 'Sharknado 2 : the Second One' in 2014, 'Empire' in 2016, 'Black-ish' in 2017 with 'Chaaw' in the process of filming at the time of Markie's death and due for release in 2022. He recorded five studio albums launching with 'Goin' Off' in 1988 and ending with 'Weekend Warrior' in 2003 and a further eight compilation albums culminating with 'Diabolical : The Biz's Greatest Hits' in 2009. 

* Tom O'Connor - born 31st October 1939 and died 18th July 2021, aged 81. O'Connor was an English comedian, television presenter and Actor whose television break came when he appeared on 'The Comedians' and as result came to be one of the most popular faces on British TV during the 1970's and '80's. He hosted many shows over that period including 'Name that Tune', 'Wednesday at 8', 'The Tom O'Connor Show', 'Gambit', 'Crosswits', and numerous others including 'The Tom O'Connor Road Show' for the BBC which ran daily at lunch times and was watched by over 12 million viewers each day. O'Connor made his screen acting debut in 1970 in the TV series 'ITV Sunday Night Theatre' in an episode titled 'Roll on Four O'Clock', thereafter appearing in the aforementioned TV shows which he hosted. His next screen role came in 1994 in the TV movie 'Zig & Zag : Entertainment Cops' and then his final acting gig coming on twenty-eight episodes of 'Doctors' between 2000 and 2004. In February 2006, he was given an award for having appeared as a guest on the TV programme 'Countdown' one hundred times, and in March 2010 O'Connor won 'Celebrity Come Dine with Me', scoring a record-breaking 29/30. O'Connor also penned a number of books over the years, beginning with 'Tom 'O'Connor's Book of Liverpool Humour' published in 1987 and ending up with, ten books later, 'I Remember : the Collected Thoughts of Tom O'Connor' released in 2008. Over the years he also appeared in summer stock theatre, cabaret tours and pantomimes.

* Mary Ward - born 6th March 1915, died 19th July 2021, aged 106. Ward was an Australian Actress of stage, television, and film, and a radio announcer who trained in England and Australia, and worked in England on the stage circuit, before appearing in film. She returned to Australia prior to WWII where she became one of the first female radio announcers at the ABC in Australia. Ward notched up thirty-nine screen acting roles throughout her career which launched in the feature film 'Eureka Stockade' in 1949, and that same year she appeared in 'If This Be Sin'. Her next feature film came in 1976 in 'Cry Your Purple Heart Out' then 'Jenny Kissed Me' in 1985, 'Backstage' in 1988 with 'Amy' in 1997 being her final film role. In the intervening years there were numerous made for TV movies and roles on TV series taking in 'Homicide', 'The Young Doctors', on thirty-three episodes of 'Prisoner', 'A Country Practice', on twenty-two of 'Sons and Daughters', 'The Henderson Kids' and 'The Henderson Kids II', 'Neighbours', and 'Blue Heelers' being her last screen acting role in 2000.

* John Cornell - born 2nd March 1941 and died 23rd July 2021, aged 80. Cornell was an Australian film Producer, Writer, Actor and businessman who had six Producer credits, four as Writer, three as Actor and two as Director during his career which launched in 1975 with his writing, producing and acting credit on the made for TV movie 'Hogan in London' in which he and his frequent collaborator and good friend Paul Hogan travel to London and run amok, with Cornell playing his sidekick 'Strop' for which he would become best known. Between 1973 and 1979 Cornell would play alongside Paul Hogan in 'The Paul Hogan Show' as Strop and various other characters and then served as Producer on two episodes between 1978 and 1984. In 1986 he and Hogan had their breakthrough credits on an international scale with 'Crocodile Dundee' for which Cornell wrote the Screenplay and also Produced and which garnered him an Oscar and BAFTA nods for Best Writing which he shared with Hogan. Two years later Cornell would turn his hand to Directing on 'Crocodile Dundee II' which he Produced also, and in 1990 his second and final directing role came with 'Almost an Angel' with Paul Hogan needless to say. Cornell's final acting credit was in 1995 in a single episode of the TV series 'The Upper Hand' and in 2021 he Produced the documentary mini-series 'Refugia' hosted by his daughter Liana Cornell. He was manager for Paul Hogan, as well as for Australian Test Cricketer, Dennis Lillee, and was one of the people instrumental in the establishment of 'World Series Cricket' in 1977 to improve the welfare and salaries of cricketers, world-wide.

* Jackie Mason - born Yacov Moshe Hakohen Maza on 9th June 1928 and died 24th July 2021, aged 93. Mason was an American stand-up comedian and Actor of film and TV who notched up twenty screen acting credits throughout his career that began in 1964 on the TV series 'Playdate'. He followed this up eight years later in the 1972 feature film 'The Stoolie' then 1973's 'Sleeper' for and with Woody Allen in an uncredited role, 'The Jerk' in 1979 with Steve Martin, 'History of the World : Part 1' for and with Mel Brooks in 1981, 'The Perils of P.K.' in 1986, 'Caddyshack II' in 1988, with 'Goldberg - P.I.' in 2011 being his final film role. In the years in between there were appearances on TV series including on twelve episodes of 'Chicken Soup', '30 Rock', and on eleven episodes of 'The Simpsons' as Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky between 1991 and 2019. Over the years he also had numerous TV specials including 'The World According To Me!', 'An Audience with Jackie Mason', 'Jackie Mason on Campus', 'Jackie Mason at the London Palladium' and 'Jackie Mason : A Night at the Opera'. His one man shows took in the likes of 'Jackie Mason's The World According To Me!', 'Jackie Mason : Brand New', 'Jackie Mason : Politically Incorrect', 'Jackie Mason : The Ultimate Jew' and 'Jackie Mason : Fearless'. He also authored several books including 'Jackie Mason's America', 'Jackie, Oy! : The Frank, Outrageously Funny Autobiography of Jackie Mason' and 'How to Talk Jewish'. He also appeared in over two hundred self-written video blog entries on YouTube, in which he gave his opinions on current events and politics. His 1986 one-man show 'The World According to Me!' won a Special Tony Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an Ace Award, an Emmy Award, and earned a Grammy nod too. Later, his 1988 special 'Jackie Mason on Broadway' won another Emmy Award, and his 1991 voice-over on 'The Simpsons' episode 'Like Father, Like Clown' won Mason a third Emmy Award.

* Dieter Brummer - born 5th May 1976 and died 24th July 2021, aged 45. Brummer was an Australian television Actor who generated fourteen screen acting credits throughout his career which launched on the ever popular Australian prime time soap opera 'Home and Away' across 557 episodes from 1991 until 1996. From there he took mostly single episodes on 'Medivac', 'Shark Bay', 'Crash Palace' then in 2009 and 2010 he starred in two seasons of 'Underbelly' over twenty-one episodes on 'A Tale of Two Cities' and 'The Golden Mile'. In 2011 and '12 he took a role across twenty-six episodes of 'Neighbours' and in 2013 and '14 he appeared in seven of 'Winners & Losers' which was to be his final screen role. For his role of Shane Parrish on 'Home and Away', Brummer was nominated for the Gold Logie and Silver Logie Awards for 'Most Popular Actor' in 1994, but failed to win, however, he went on to win the 'Most Popular Actor' Silver Logie Award in 1995 and 1996.

* Rick Aiello - born sometime in 1958 and died 26th July 2021, aged 63. Aiello was an American Actor of film and television who was the son of American Actor Danny Aiello who died in December 2019 aged 86. His son Rick generated sixty-four screen acting credits throughout his career which kicked off with the 1984 horror thriller 'Silent Madness'. He followed this up with roles in other feature films over the ensuing years including 'Do the Right Thing' in 1989 for Spike Lee, 'Harlem Nights' in 1989 for and with Eddie Murphy, 'The Closer' in 1990 with his father Danny Aiello, 'One Good Cop' in 1991 with Michael Keaton, 'Jungle Fever' for Spike Lee again, 'Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me' in 1992 for David Lynch, 'Clockers' in 1995 for Spike Lee once more, 'A Brooklyn State of Mind' in 1998, 'Brooklyn Lobster' in 2005 with his father once more, 'Sex and the City' in 2008, 'Twin Peaks : The Missing Pieces' in 2014 for David Lynch again, 'Reach Me' in 2014 with an ensemble cast with 'Nobody's Perfect' in 2016 being his final acting role. In between time there were also appearances on TV shows taking in '21 Jump Street', 'L.A. Law', 'Tales from the Crypt', 'NYPD Blue', 'Diagnosis Murder', on fourteen episodes of 'Dellaventura', 'Walker, Texas Ranger', 'Law & Order : SVU', 'The Sopranos', and 'Ugly Betty'. He also had four stunts credits over the years on 'Streets of Gold', 'Shakedown', 'New York Minute' and 'City Island'.

* David Von Ancken - born 5th December 1964 and died 26th July 2021, aged 56. Von Ancken was an American film and TV Director, Producer and occasional Writer who amassed thirty-seven Directing credits, twelve as Producer and three as Writer throughout his career which began in 1997 with his debut helming the short film 'Box Suite'. His first small screen Directing gig came in 2003 on a single episode of 'Oz' with his first and only feature film coming in 2006 in 'Seraphim Falls' with Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan. He made the TV movie 'Awakening' in 2011 and his other production and directorial credits all relate to single and multiple episodes of TV shows including 'Numb3rs', 'The Shield', 'Heroes', on seven episodes of 'Cold Case', on eight of 'CSI : NY', 'The Mentalist', on fifteen of 'Californication', on seven of 'Code Black', on eight of 'Hell on Wheels', 'The Crossing', and 'The Order' most recently in 2020. He also served as Executive Producer on 'The Last Son' currently in post-production with Heather Graham, Thomas Jane, Sam Worthington and Machine Gun Kelly. He was the recipient of five award wins (all for his 2001 short film 'Bullet in the Brain') and was a Gotham Award nominee for 'Seraphim Falls'.

* Saginaw Grant - born 20th July 1936 and died 28th July 2021, aged 85. Grant was an American character Actor of film and television and the Hereditary Chief of the Sac and Fox Nation of native American Indian peoples. His first screen role came in 1988 in 'War Party' and he would follow this up with other appearances in feature films taking in 'Grey Owl' in 1999 for Richard Attenborough and with Pierce Brosnan, 'The World's Fastest Indian' in 2005 with Anthony Hopkins, 'Slipstream' in 2007 for and with Anthony Hopkins again, 'The Lone Ranger' in 2013 with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, 'The Ridiculous 6' in 2015 with an ensemble cast, 'Valley of the Gods' in 2019 with Josh Hartnett and John Malkovich, with 'Two Nations' and 'The Red Man's View' both currently in post-production. In the years in between there were also appearances on TV shows including on fifteen episodes of 'Harts of the West', 'Nash Bridges', 'Baywatch', 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet', 'My Name Is Earl', 'Saving Grace', 'American Horror Story', 'Breaking Bad', 'Shameless' and 'Veep'. Since 2012, he had been a prominent member of the American Indian Advisory Board at the San Diego International Film Festival, had been awarded the American Legacy Award from the San Diego Film Festival and the lifetime achievement award from the Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation and a Living Legend Award by the Native American Music Awards. 

* Ray McBride - born sometime in 1952, and died 27th July 2021, aged 69. McBride was an Irish Actor of stage, film and television who notched up just  thirteen screen acting credits during his career which spanned from 1988 through until 1999 only. His first screen role came in the Irish feature film 'Reefer and the Model' in 1988, which he followed up in 1992 with 'Into the West' Directed by Mike Newell and starring Gabriele Byrne, Ellen Barkin, Colm Meaney and Brendan Gleeson. 'The Bishop's Story' came next in 1994, then 'Guiltrip' in 1995, 'Pete's Meteor' in 1998 with Brenda Fricker, Alfred Molina and Mike Myers, 'Love & Rage' in 1999 with Daniel Craig, Greta Scacchi and Stephen Dillane, with 'Angela's Ashes' also in 1999 being his final screen role for Alan Parker with Robert Carlyle and Emily Watson. He also appeared in five episodes of 'Ballykissangel' in 1998. McBride's career was dramatically impacted when in 1999 he was diagnosed with a cancer that affected his speech and balance.

* Clive Scott - Robert Clive Cleghorn on born 4th July 1937, died 28th July 2021, aged 84. Scott was a South African radio, TV, film and theatre Actor who accumulated fifty-three screen acting roles throughout his career which began with an uncredited role in Guy Hamilton's 'Battle of Britain' in 1969 with an all star cast. He followed this up with a string of B-Grade movie fare before landing 'Killer Force' in 1976 with Telly Savalas, Peter Fonda, Maud Adams and Christopher Lee, 'Blind Justice' in 1988 with Christopher Cazenove, 'Citizen Verdict' in 2003 with Armand Assante, Jerry Springer and Roy Scheider, 'Stander' also in 2003 with Thomas Jane and Dexter Fletcher, 'Winnie Mandela' in 2011 with Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard. In the meantime, there were also appearances on TV shows taking in 'Doctor Who', in seventy-six episodes of 'The Villagers', 'The Villagers II' and 'The Villagers III' in 1976, '77, and '78 making him a household name, 'Tropical Heat', 'Where Angels Tread', 'The Devil's Whore' mini-series with Andrea Riseborough, Michael Fassbender, Dominic West and Peter Capaldi in 2008, 'Wild at Heart' and 'Liberty' in 2018. 

* Jay Pickett - born 10th February 1961 and died 30th July 2021, aged 60. Pickett was an American Actor, and occasional Producer, Writer and one time Director who garnered fifty screen acting roles throughout his career which began in 1987 on a single episode of 'Rags to Riches'. His feature film debut came two years later in 1989 in 'Rush Week', followed over the ensuing years by the other features including 'Eve of Destruction' with Gregory Hines, 'Rumpelstiltskin', 'Soda Springs' with Tom Skerritt, 'A Matter of Faith', 'The Work Wife', 'A Soldiers's Revenge' with Val Kilmer and Jake Busey with 'The Siege at Rykers Station' and 'Catch the Bullet' both completed filming, 'Heart of the Gun' and 'Shooting Star' both currently in post-production and 'Treasure Valley' was filming at the time of Pickett's death. In the years in between there were also appearances on TV shows taking in 'Dragnet', 'Matlock', on thirty-four episodes of 'Days of Our Lives', on 762 episodes of 'Port Charles' between 1997 and 2003 as Frank Scanlon, 'Saving Grace', 'Dexter', on sixty-one episodes of 'General Hospital', 'Desperate Housewives' and 'NCIS : Los Angeles'. His only Director credit came with the short film 'Snake River Rising' which he also wrote, Produced and starred in. Pickett won three awards during his career, all for 'Soda Springs' which he also Produced and wrote. Pickett died unexpectedly while preparing to film a scene on 'Treasure Valley'.

Nineteen 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 fourth and fifth outbreak as the Delta variant takes hold across the globe. 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-