In September, 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 . . . . . Willard Scott, Sarah Harding, Ion Caramitru, Tony Selby, Michael K. Williams, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Art Metrano, Fran Bennett, Don Collier, Norm Macdonald, Joel Rapp, Robert Fyfe, Jane Powell, Stephen Critchlow, John Challis, Willie Garson, Peter Palmer, Melvin Van Peebles, Al Harrington, Morris Perry, Jay Sandrich, Roger Michell, Tommy Kirk, Michael Tylo and Ravil Isyanov.
* Willard Scott - born 7th March 1934, died 4th September 2021, aged 87. Scott was an American TV Weather Presenter, radio and TV personality, Actor, clown, comedian, and author, with a career spanning sixty-five years. He is perhaps best known for his television work on the
'Today' show as weather reporter and also presented from 1983 onwards a tribute greetings segment for people celebrating their 100th or above birthdays (a tradition that still exists today). He was the creator and original portrayer of Ronald McDonald from 1963 until 1966 and occasionally thereafter up until 1971. He later appeared on five episodes of
'The Hogan Family' between 1987 and 1989 and his last screen role came in the 2007 feature RomCom
'The Singles 2nd Ward'. Scott was the recipient of three Daytime Emmy wins and three nominations, all for his work as host on
'The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade' between 1988 and 1998. He also penned several fiction and non-fiction books, and played Santa Claus at a number of White House events over the years.
* Sarah Harding- born
Sarah Nicole Hardman on 17th November 1981 and died 5th September 2021, aged 39. Harding was an English singer, model and Actress. She is best known for being in the five piece all girl band 'Girls Aloud'. The group achieved a succession of twenty consecutive Top Ten singles in the UK, including four number ones. They also achieved seven certified albums, of which two reached number one. They have been nominated for five Brit Awards. During her career she notched up seventeen screen credits which included ten music video's for 'Girls Aloud' with her first big screen role coming with a bit part in the 2007 film
'St. Trinian's', which she would follow up in 2009 with a more meatier role in the sequel
'St. Trinian's 2 : The Legend of Fritton's Gold'. There were also roles in 2008's
'Bad Day', 2009's made for TV movie
'Freefall', 2012's
'Run for Your Wife' and on five episodes of
'Coronation Street' in 2015. In August 2017, Harding began competing in the twentieth series of
'Celebrity Big Brother' and was crowned the winner later that month. Her memoir
'Hear Me Out' was published earlier this year.
* Ion Caramitru - born on 9th March 1942 and died 5th September 2021, aged 79. Caramitru was a Romanian stage and film Actor, stage Director, and political figure. He was Minister of Culture between 1996 and 2000, in the Romanian Democratic Convention. As an Actor, Caramitru accumulated fifty-two screen acting roles beginning in 1964 in the Romanian feature film
'Comoara din Vadul Vechi'. 'Forest of the Hanged' followed in 1965 with the likes of
'Ahead of the Silence' in 1978,
'The Stake and the Flame' in 1980,
'The Carpathian Castle' in 1981, 'Stefan Luchian' that same year, then
'Kafka' in 1991 for Steven Soderbergh with Jeremy Irons, Ian Holm and Alec Guinness, the TV movie
'Citizen X' with Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland and Max von Sydow in 1995, and
'Two Deaths' also in 1995 for Nicolas Roeg with Partick Malahide and Michael Gambon, the Brian de Palma Directed
'Mission : Impossible' in 1996 with Tom Cruise,
'Adam & Paul' in 2004,
'Charlie Countryman' in 2013 with Shia LaBeouf and Mads Mikkelsen with
'The Pitesti Experiment' currently in post-production. For his work in establishing British-Romanian cultural links, Caramitru was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and in 1997, the French
Ministry of Culture awarded him the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. In 2012 he was bestowed as a Knight of the Royal Decoration of the Cross of the Romanian Royal House.
* Tony Selby - born 26th February 1938 and died 5th September 2021, aged 83. Selby was an English Actor of film and TV who amassed 138 screen acting credits throughout his seven decade spanning career, which kicked off in 1951's TV movie
'Mencius was a Bad Boy'. He would follow this up over the ensuing ten years with a string of uncredited feature film roles until his first credited feature film role in 1961's
'The Queen's Guards' followed by more uncredited roles, including on
'Alfie' with Michael Caine in 1966, before
'Witchfinder General' with Vincent Price and
'Before Winter Comes' with David Niven, both in 1968, then
'Villain' in 1971 with Richard Burton,
'Adolf Hitler : My Part in His Downfall' in 1973 with Jim Dale, then an uncredited turn on Richard Donner's
'Superman' in 1978 with Christopher Reeve,
'Loop' in 1997 with Andy Serkis, and
'Cockney's vs Zombies' in 2012 with Harry Treadaway and Honor Blackman being his final big screen appearance. Meanwhile, there were numerous multiple and single roles of TV series taking in the likes of
'The Avengers', 'Department S', 'Z Cars', 'Catweazle', on twenty-six episodes of
'Ace of Wands', 'The Sweeney', 'Two's Company', 'Bless This House', 'The Good Life', on thirty-four episodes of
'Get Some In!', on six of
'Jack of Diamonds', on six of
'Hideaway', on nine of
'Doctor Who', 'Minder', on thirteen of
'Mulberry', on thirty of
'Love Hurts', 'Holby City', 'Burnside', 'EastEnders', 'The Bill', 'Casualty', 'New Tricks', 'Doctors' and finally
'Lucky Man' in 2016 being his final screen appearance. He died after contracting COVID-19.
* Michael K. Williams - born 22nd November 1966, died 6th September 2021, aged 54. Williams was an American Actor and occasional Producer of cinema and television who accumulated 110 screen acting credits throughout his career which began with an uncredited role in a Madonna video clip for her hit single of 1994
'Secret'. From here his big screen debut came two years later in Julien Temple's
'Bullet' with Mickey Rourke followed by other notable feature films including Martin Scorsese's
'Bringing Out the Dead' in 1999,
'Gone Baby Gone' in 2007 Directed by Ben Affleck,
'The Incredible Hulk' in 2008 with Edward Norton,
'Brooklyn's Finest' in 2009 for Antoine Fuqua,
'The Road' for John Hillcoat also in 2009,
'Snitch' in 2013 with Dwayne Johnson,
'12 Years a Slave' for Steve McQueen,
'RoboCop' in 2014 with Joel Kinnaman and Gary Oldman,
'The Purge : Anarchy' with Frank Grillo,
'Kill the Messenger' with Jeremy Renner,
'Inherent Vice' for Paul Thomas Anderson, and
'The Gambler' with Mark Wahlberg all in 2014 too.
'The Captive' in 2015 with David Oyelowo came next, then
'Triple 9' for John Hillcoat again in 2016,
'Ghostbusters' that same year for Paul Feig,
'Assassin's Creed' for Justin Kurzel in 2016,
'The Red Sea Diving Resort' in 2018,
'Motherless Brooklyn' in 2019 for and with Edward Norton with
'Body Brokers' in 2021 being his final big screen role before the yet to be released and currently in post-production
'Surrounded' with Jamie Bell and
'892' with John Boyega. In the years in between there were also roles on TV series including
'The Sopranos', 'Alias', 'Boston Legal', on fifty-one episodes of
'The Wire', 'CSI : NY', on eight of
'The Philanthropist', on fifty-six episodes of
'Boardwalk Empire', on eighteen of
'Hap and Leonard', 'When They See Us', on ten episodes of
'Lovecraft Country' and on eleven of
'F Is for Family' most recently. All up Williams collected sixteen award wins and another thirty nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit.
* Jean-Paul Belmondo - born 9th April 1933 and died 6th September 2021, aged 88. Belmondo was a French Actor, Producer and Stuntman who amassed ninety-one screen acting credits, twenty-five as Producer and fourteen as a Stuntman throughout his six decade spanning career both in front of, and behind, the camera. He was a major French film star for several decades from the '60's onwards and is credited as an influential Actor of French cinema and an important figure in shaping European cinema. Belmondo got his first acting break in the twenty-five minute short film
'Moliere' in 1956, which he followed up over the successive years with a string of notable roles in the likes of
'Breathless' in 1960 for Jean-Luc Godard and with Jean Seberg,
'The Lovemakers' in 1961 with Claudia Cardinale,
'That Man from Rio' in 1964,
'Backfire' that same year with Jean Seberg again,
'Upto His Ears' in 1965 with Ursula Andress,
'The Brain' in 1969 with David Niven and Eli Wallach,
'Borsalino' in 1970,
'The Burglars' in 1971 with Omar Sharif, '
The Man from Acapulco' in 1973 with Jacqueline Bisset,
'Animal' in 1977 with Raquel Welch,
'Hold-Up' in 1985 with Kim Cattrall,
'Les Miserables' in 1995,
'Half a Chance' in 1998 with Vanessa Paradis with
'A Man and His Dog' in 2009 with Max von Sydow being his final feature film role. During his career Belmondo won six awards and another three nominations including a Career Achievement Award at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards in 2009, the Honorary Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 and the Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2016. In 2017, he received a lifetime achievement honour at the 42nd Cesar Awards accompanied by a two-minute standing ovation. Throughout his career, he was called the French counterpart of Actors including James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Humphrey Bogart. On the day of his death, television channels in France altered their schedules to add screenings of his films, which drew over 6.5 million viewers cumulatively.
* Art Metrano - born
Arthur Metrano on 22nd September 1936 and died 8th September 2021, aged 84. Metrano was an American Actor who accumulated 120 screen acting credits throughout his five decade spanning career which kicked off in 1960 on the
'CBS Repertoire Workshop' on an episode titled
'The Brick and the Rose'. He scored his first big screen outing a year later in 1961 on
'Rocket Attack U.S.A.' His subsequent feature roles included 1969's
'They Shoot Horses Don't They?' for Director Sydney Pollack, then
'They Only Kill Their Masters' with James Garner in 1971,
'The Heartbreak Kid' in 1972 with Charles Grodin,
'The All-American Boy' in 1973 with Jon Voight,
'The Strongest Man in the World' in 1975 with Kurt Russell,
'Matilda' in 1978 with Elliott Gould,
'History of the World : Part 1' for and with Mel Brooks,
'Breathless' in 1983 with Richard Gere,
'Police Academy 2 : Their First Assignment' in 1985 and it's follow up
'Police Academy 3 : Back in Training' in 1986,
'Toys' in 1992 with Robin Williams,
'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' in 1998 with Angela Bassett with
'Good Advice' in 2001 with Charlie Sheen being his final screen role. In the years in between there were appearances on TV series taking in
'Mod Squad', 'Mannix', 'The High Chaparral', 'Bewitched', 'Bonanza', 'The Partridge Family', 'Kojak', 'Ironside', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Police Story', 'Charlie's Angels', 'Wonder Woman', 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Centennial', on sixteen episodes of
'Joanie Loves Chachi', 'Hotel', 'The A-Team', '21 Jump Street', 'L.A. Law' and
'Party of Five'. In September 1989, Metrano broke his neck in six places and seriously injured his spinal cord after falling off a ladder while working on his home. At first a quadriplegic he later regained the use of his arms and legs, and was able to walk short distances with the help of crutches, and regularly using a motorised wheelchair. He retired from his acting career in 2001 and opened a yogurt shop.
* Fran Bennett - born 14th August 1937 and died 12th September 2021, aged 84. Bennett was an American Actress of stage, film and television who amassed 109 screen acting credits throughout her career which spanned six decades right up until the present day. Her acting debut occurred with a a role on TV's
'Guiding Light' in 1965 but it wasn't until 1978 that her career really kicked off beginning with an episode on
'Diff'rent Strokes'. Her first big screen role came in 1979 in
'Promises in the Dark' with Ned Beatty, and she followed this up over the ensuing years with other feature film roles including
'Romantic Comedy' with Dudley Moore in 1983,
'The Morning After' in 1986 with Jane Fonda and Jeff Bridges,
'The Doctor' in 1991 with William Hurt,
'Wes Craven's New Nightmare' in 1994 with Robert Englund,
'Foxfire' in 1996 with Angelina Jolie,
'8MM' in 1999 with Nicolas Cage,
'The Next Best Thing' in 2000 with Madonna and Rupert Everett,
'Jessabelle' in 2014 with Sarah Snook with
'The Manor' currently in post-production and starring Barbara Hershey and Bruce Davison. In the years in between there were numerous single and multiple episodes on TV series taking in
'Roots : The Next Generations', 'Lou Grant', 'Matt Houston', 'Dallas', 'Falcon Crest', 'Remington Steele', 'St. Elsewhere', 'Knots Landing', 'The Bold and the Beautiful', 'Dynasty', 'Melrose Place', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Chicago Hope', 'Boston Legal', 'Crossing Jordan', 'ER', 'NCIS' and
'Animal Kingdom'. From 1996 to 2003, she was head of the performance programme in the School of Theatre at the California Institute of the Arts.
* Don Collier - born 17th October 1928 and died 13th September 2021, aged 92. Collier was an American Actor of film and television who notched up sixty-six screen acting credits throughout his career which spanned from 1960 right through to the present day with the Western
'No Name and Dynamite Davenport' currently in post-production. His first big screen role came in 1960's
'Twelve Hours to Kill' followed up by
'Seven Ways from Sundown' with Audie Murphy, and then the likes of
'Paradise, Hawaiian Style' with Elvis Presley,
'El Dorado' (although uncredited) with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum,
'The War Wagon' with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas,
'5 Card Stud' with Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum,
'The Undefeated' with John Wayne and Rock Hudson,
'Benefit of the Doubt' with Donald Sutherland and
'Tombstone' with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott amongst others. In the intervening years there were TV series roles on numerous Westerns including fifty episodes of
'Outlaws', then
'The Virginian', 'Wagon Train', 'Branded', 'Death Valley Days', sixty-three episodes of
'The High Chaparral', 'Bonanza', 'Gunsmoke', 'How the West Was Won',
'Little House on the Prairie', on thirty episodes of
'The Young Riders' plus
'Land of the Giants', 'The Waltons', 'The Winds of War' and
'War and Remembrance' in between. In the 1970's he worked on many television commercials in the USA and in Australia, and later on in his career he narrated
'The Desert Speaks', a series of documentaries for the University of Arizona, appeared at Western festivals, and presented the one-man stage performance
'Confessions of an Acting Cowboy' of which a DVD was released in 2020.
* Norm Macdonald - born 17th October 1959, died 14th September 2021, aged 61. Macdonald was a Canadian comedian, TV Host, Writer, Actor and Producer who notched up fifty-one screen acting roles, seventeen as Writer and nine as Producer during his career which spanned (in front of the camera) from 1993 on
'The Jackie Thomas Show' to his big screen debut in 1995 in
'Billy Madison' with Adam Sandler, then
'The People vs. Larry Flynt' in 1996 with Woody Harrelson,
'Dirty Work' in 1998 in which he got top billing, then as the voice of Lucky in
'Doctor Dolittle' with Eddie Murphy in 1998 and its four subsequent sequels (only the first two with Murphy and the other three were direct to video),
'Screwed' in 2000 (top billing again),
'The Animal' in 2001 with Rob Schneider,
'Funny People' in 2009 with Adam Sandler again,
'Grown Ups' in 2010 with Adam Sandler once more,
'Jack and Jill' in 2011 with Adam Sandler once again,
'The Ridiculous 6' in 2015 with Adam Sandler again with the animated film
'Back Home Again' also starring the voices of Ed Asner, Jeremy Renner and Martin Short currently in post-production. In the meantime, there were also appearances on TV series including
'NewsRadio', on fifty-four episodes of
'Norm' between 1999 and 2001,
'My Name Is Earl', on ninety-four episodes of
'Saturday Night Live' between 1993 and 2009, on twelve of
'Sunnyside', on ten of
'The Middle', then lending his voice talents to thirty-eight episodes of
'Skylanders Academy', to sixteen episodes of
'The Orville' and to sixty-four of
'Mike Tyson Mysteries' up to 2020. He was a regular favourite comedian panelist of talk show hosts such as Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, and Howard Stern, with many considering him to be the ultimate late night comedy guest.
* Joel Rapp - born 22nd May 1934 and died 15th September 2021, aged 87. Rapp was an American Writer, Producer and Director who accumulated just two Directing credits, two as Producer and thirty three as Writer during his career in front and behind the camera which began with a writing credit on the TV series
'Topper' in 1954. His first of two Directing credits came in 1959 with
'High School Big Shot' and he followed this up a year later with
'Battle of Blood Island', both films he also wrote. His writing credits took in the likes of
'Highway Patrol', 'Lassie', 'Colt .45', on ten episodes of
'Peter Loves Mary', four of
'Broadside', fourteen of
'McHale's Navy', 'Green Acres', 'Gilligan's Island' and
'Bewitched' in 1971 being his final screen credit. Rapp was a passionate gardener, and was nicknamed 'Mr. Mother Earth, Plant Man to the Stars'. He authored fourteen books on gardening, and was the gardener for the morning talk show
'Live with Regis and Kathie Lee' between 1988 and 2000.
* Robert Fyfe - born 25th September 1930 and died 15th September 2021, aged 90. Fyfe was a Scottish Actor of film and TV who accumulated fifty-four screen acting roles during a career spanning seven decades. His first role came with the 1962 series
'Mr. Pastry's Progress' and he followed this up that same year with his feature film debut in
'Jailbreak'. His next big screen role came in the 1982 Horror Sci-Fi offering
'Xtro', followed by
'Formula 51' in 2001 with Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle,
'Around the World in 80 Days' with Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan in 2004,
'Babel' in 2006 with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett,
'Burke and Hare' in 2010 with Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis,
'Cloud Atlas' in 2012 with Tom Hanks, and
'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' in 2016 with Lily James and Sam Riley. In the intervening years there were appearances on TV shows taking in
'Dr. Finlay's Casebook', 'The Onedin Line', 'Z Cars', 'The Gentle Touch', 'Angels', 'Agony', on perhaps his best known role as Howard on 230 episodes of
'Last of the Summer Wine' between 1985 and 2010, on seven episodes of
'Coronation Street' and his final screen role in 2017 in
'Carters Get Rich'.
* Jane Powell - born
Suzanne Lorraine Burce on 1st April 1929 and died 16th September 2021, aged 92. Powell was an American Actress, singer and dancer who first appeared in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals of the 1940's. Accumulating forty-six screen acting credits in a career spanning seven decades, her screen debut came in 1944 in
'Song of the Open Road' with W.C. Fields.
'Delightfully Dangerous' followed in 1945 with Ralph Bellamy, then
'Holiday in Mexico' with Walter Pidgeon,
'A Date with Judy' with Elizabeth Taylor,
'Two Weeks with Love' with Ricardo Montalban,
'Royal Wedding' with Fred Astaire and then perhaps her most acclaimed role in 1954's
'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' with Howard Keel.
'Athena' came next with Debbie Reynolds,
'Hit the Deck' with Debbie Reynolds again,
'The Female Animal' with Hedy Lamarr, then
'Marie' in 1985 with Sissy Spacek and Jeff Daniels and
'Picture This' in 1999 being her final big screen role. In the meantime there were appearances on TV series and made for TV movies including
'The Red Skelton Hour', 'Fantasy Island', 'The Love Boat', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Growing Pains' and
'Law & Order : SVU' being her final screen role in 2002. She also appeared in numerous stage plays between 1951 and 2004 taking in
'Oklahoma!', 'The Boy Friend', 'The Sound of Music', 'My Fair Lady', 'Meet Me in St. Louis', 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers', 'South Pacific', 'Cinderella' and
'Bounce'. Powell also recorded six LP's/CD's between 1949 and 2001. She was referred to as one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
* Stephen Critchlow - born 16th November 1966 with his death announced on 19th September 2021, aged 54. Critchlow was a British Actor of radio, stage, film and television who amassed seventy-one screen acting roles throughout his career which launched in 1995 in the TV mini-series
'Little Lord Fauntleroy'. His first big screen role came in 2002 in
'Fogbound' with Luke Perry then
'The Calcium Kid' in 2004 with Orlando Bloom and Michael Pena,
'Churchill : The Hollywood Years' also in 2004 with Christian Slater and Neve Campbell and
'Osiris' in 2014. In between there were appearances on TV shows and mini-series taking in the likes of
'The Bill', 'Trial & Retribution', 'The Infinite Worlds of H.G.Wells', 'Heartbeat', 'Doctors', 'Skins', 'Casualty', 'Downton Abbey', 'Holby City', 'Coronation Street', 'Red Dwarf', and on
'Unsinkable' currently in post-production. He also lent his voice talents to numerous video games and on the animated kids TV series
'Chuggington'. Known in the theatre world as 'Critch' or 'The Critch', he worked in theatre all over Britain, in stage productions including
'Twelfth Night', 'Hamlet', 'Pygmalion', 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and
'The 39 Steps'. On radio, he performed in over 200 BBC radio drama productions with the BBC Radio Drama Company. He worked in all areas of the medium - Book at Bedtime, readings, light entertainment, schools radio, Woman's Hour, classic serials, radio plays, science fiction and Shakespeare.
* John Challis - born 16th August 1942 and died 19th September 2021, aged 79. Challis was a British Actor of film, TV and theatre who amassed ninety screen acting credits throughout his career which began in 1964 in the film
'Where Has Poor Mickey Gone' with Warren Mitchell. His subsequent feature film roles were sporadic over the following years taking in those including
'The Tichborne Claimant' in 1998 with Stephen Fry and John Gielgud,
'Five Seconds to Spare' in 2000 with Andy Serkis and Ray Winstone,
'Dream' and
'Subterrain' being his final feature film outing in 2001. In the meantime however, he appeared in numerous TV shows and mini-series including
'Softly Softly', 'Dixon of Dock Green', on nine episodes of
'Crossroads', on thirteen of
'Z Cars', 'The Sweeney', 'Doctor Who', 'Open All Hours', on ten episodes of
'Coronation Street', 'Citizen Smith', 'Juliet Bravo', 'The Bill', 'Casualty', in perhaps his best known role as Boycie on thirty-three episodes of
'Only Fools and Horses', and on thirty-two episodes of its follow-up series
'The Green Green Grass', on fifteen episodes of
'Benidorm', with the short film
'In Vino Veritas' in post-production and the TV movie
'Together' filming at the time of his death. Challis had a number of stage roles, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960's and the National Theatre appearing subsequently in open-air performances of
'Richard III' and
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' as well as performing in pantomime's
'Peter Pan', 'Dick Whittington' and
'Aladdin'. He wrote two volumes of his autobiography,
'Being Boycie' and
'Boycie & Beyond'.
* Willie Garson - born
William Garson Paszamant on 20th February 1964, died 21st September 2021, aged 57. Garson was an American Actor of film and television who amassed 170 screen acting credits to his name during his five decade spanning career which kicked off in 1986 on the TV mini-series
'The Deliberate Stranger' and went through to the present day with the TV mini-series
'And Just Like That . . . ' currently filming at the time of his death. His big screen roles took in the likes of his debut role in
'Troop Beverly Hills' in 1989 with Shelley Long, then
'Brain Dead' in 1990 with Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton, Renny Harlin's
'The Adventures of Ford Fairlane', 'Ruby' in 1992 with Danny Aiello,
'Groundhog Day' in 1993 with Bill Murray,
'Speechless' in 1994 with Michael Keaton and Geena Davis, '
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead' with Andy Garcia,
'The Rock' for Michael Bay,
'Mars Attacks!' for Tim Burton,
'There's Something About Mary' with Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz,
'Being John Malkovich', 'Freaky Friday' with Jamie Lee Curtis,
'House of D' for and with David Duchovny,
'Sex and the City' and its follow up
'Sex and the City 2', 'The Polka King' with Jack Black with
'Before I Go' released earlier this year. In the intervening years there were numerous made for TV movies, mini-series and TV shows he appeared in, including
'Cheers', 'Twin Peaks', 'Quantum Leap', 'Mad About You', 'The Practice', 'Melrose Place', 'Ally McBeal', 'NYPD Blue', 'The X-Files', 'Spin City', on twenty-seven episodes of
'Sex and the City' as Stanford Blatch (a role he would reprise in the two aforementioned feature films),
'Stargate SG-1', 'CSI : Miami', 'Medium', 'Two and a Half Men', on eighty-one episodes of
'White Collar', on nine of
'Hawaii Five-0', 'Supergirl' and
'Duke of the Valley' currently in post-production. Garson was also very involved with many charities, including AMFAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research), Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, and especially the Alliance for Children's Rights, which facilitates adoptions in LA County. Aside from acting, Garson was known as a world-class poker player, having been nicknamed Evil Willie on the first episode of Celebrity Poker Showdown in 2003.
* Peter Palmer - born 20th September 1931 and died 21st September 2021, aged 90. Palmer was an American Actor of stage, cinema and television who notched up forty screen acting credits during his career which began in the 1959 comedy musical
'Li'l Abner' in which Palmer had the title role, coming off the back of his starring in the Broadway show of the same name. His next big screen role came in 1988 in the Sci-Fi horror film
'Deep Space', followed by
'A Time of Destiny' that same year with William Hurt, then
'Edward Scissorhands' for Tim Burton and with Johnny Depp in 1990 being his final feature film role. In the years in between there were roles on TV series including on seventeen episodes of
'Custer', 'The Rockford Files', 'Charlie's Angels', 'Fantasy Island', 'M*A*S*H', 'E/R', 'Dallas', 'Superboy', 'Swamp Thing' and
'Thunder in Paradise' in 1994 being his final screen appearance.
* Melvin Van Peebles - born
Melvin Peebles on 21st August 1932 and died on 21st September 2021, aged 89. Peebles was an American Actor, Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Playwright, novelist and composer who amassed forty-three screen acting credits, eighteen as Writer, seventeen as Director, eleven as Producer, twelve as composer and five as Editor. His writing and Directing career launched in 1957 with the nine minute short film
'Three Pickup Men for Herrick' which he followed up that same year with another short film
'Sunlight'. His feature film making debut came in 1967 with
'The Story of a Three-Day Pass' which he followed up with the likes of
'Watermelon Man' in 1970,
'Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song' in 1971 which he also wrote and starred in,
'Don't Play Us Cheap' in 1972, then
'Identity Crisis' in 1989 written and starring his son Mario Van Peebles, the made for TV movie
'Gang in Blue' in 1996 Co-Directed and starring his son again,
'Bellyful' in 2000, with
'Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha' in 2008 being his final Directorial credit. In terms of his acting career his credits took in such movies as
'Jaws : The Revenge' in 1987 with Michael Caine,
'Boomerang' in 1992 with Eddie Murphy,
'Last Action Hero' in 1993 with Arnold Schwarzenegger,
'Terminal Velocity' in 1994 with Charlie Sheen,
'Blackout' in 2007 with Jeffrey Wright,
'Redemption Road' in 2010 with Luke Perry,
'Peeples' in 2013,
'Armed' in 2018 with William Fichtner with the sixteen minute short film
'Pile On!' currently in post-production. Throughout his career he also wrote fifteen books and novels, wrote seven stage plays, and released seven studio albums, four soundtrack albums and one compilation album. His screen work also garnered him eleven award wins.
* Al Harrington - born
Tausau Ta'a on 12th December 1935 and died 21st September 2021, aged 85. Harrington was a Samoan American Actor of film and television who notched up twenty-five screen acting credits throughout his career which began with an uncredited role in 1970's
'The Hawaiians' with Charlton Heston before landing a role on the original series of
'Hawaii Five-0' across sixty-four episodes between 1969 and 1975. His big screen roles included
'White Fang 2 : Myth of the White Wolf' in 1994, followed by
'Forrest Gump' in 1994 with Tom Hanks,
'The Long Road Home' in 1999 with Mary Elizabeth Winstead,
'The Homecoming of Jimmy Whitecloud' in 2001,
'The Fall of Night' in 2007,
'Satin' in 2014 with Michael Cudlitz and
'You May Not Kiss the Bride' in 2011 being his final feature film role before ten episodes of the rebooted series of
'Hawaii Five-0' between 2011 and 2018 being his final screen appearance. In the years in between there were sporadic roles on other TV shows including
'Charlie's Angles', 'The Jeffersons', 'Magnum, P.I.', 'Jake and the Fatman' and
'Scrubs'.
* Morris Perry - born 28th March 1925, died 19th September 2021, aged 96. Perry was a British Actor of film and television who amassed 131 screen acting credits to his name in a career lasting seven decades and which began in the TV series
'New Ramps for Old' in 1956. His first feature film came in 1971's
'The Insomniac' with Perry playing the lead role, and over the years that followed he had roles in
'Nothing but the Night' in 1973 with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing,
'Sweeney!' in 1977 with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman,
'The Human Factor' in 1979 with Richard Attenborough,
'Silver Dream Racer' in 1980 with David Essex and Beau Bridges, the made for TV movie
'The Bunker' in 1981 with Anthony Hopkins,
'Tigress' in 1992 with George Peppard and James Remar,
'Crush' in 2001 with Andie MacDowell with
'The Debt' in 2010 with Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington being his final film role. In the intervening years there were numerous mini-series and single and multiple episodes of TV shows including
'City Beneath the Sea', 'The Avengers', 'The Count of Monte Cristo', 'Emergency-Ward 10', 'Z Cars', 'The Champions', on twenty-one episodes of
'Special Branch', on the 1971 season of
'Doctor Who', 'The Persuaders', on the TV series of
'The Sweeney', 'The Professionals', 'Secret Army', on sixteen episodes of
'Drummonds', 'Poirot', 'The Bill', 'Doctors', 'Holby City', 'Midsomer Murders' and finally on
'Not Going Out' in 2017. In 2004 he appeared in the BAFTA award-winning thirteen minute short film
'Letters of Service' in the lead role of Billy Dunne the true story of a man who spent eighty years in a Psychiatric Hospital, and the young nurse who pieces together the haunted past of that one hundred year old patient.
* Jay Sandrich - born 24th February 1932 and died 22nd September 2021, aged 89. Sandrich was an American TV Director and occasional Producer although he gave this up in favour of Directing in 1967 save for one last foray in 1992 in the TV movie
'For Richer, for Poorer'. He amassed eighty-seven screen Directing credits throughout his distinguished career spanning from two episodes on
'The Danny Thomas Show' in 1963 through until this year with
'Forever Golden! A Celebration of the Golden Girls'. Over the six decades in between he Directed many notable TV shows including twenty-three episodes of
'He & She', six of
'Get Smart', eleven of the
'Bill Cosby Show' between 1969 and 1971, eight of
'The New Dick Van Dyke Show', six of
'The Odd Couple', 119 of
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'Welcome Back, Kotter', 'Lou Grant', seven of
'Benson', fifty-four of
'Soap', one hundred episodes of
'The Cosby Show' between 1984 and 1992,
'The Office', 'Ink', 'Style & Substance' and
'Two and a Half Men' in 2003 being his final Directing work until 2021's aforementioned
'Forever Golden!'. Sandrich was elected into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2020. During his career he won eight awards and another twelve nominations - including four Primetime Emmy Award wins, three Directors Guild of America Award wins, and one Daytime Emmy Award win.
* Roger Michell - born 5th June 1956 and died 22nd September 2021, aged 65. Michell was a British Director of cinema, television and theatre who notched up twenty-five screen Directorial credits during his career beginning with the TV mini-series
'Downtown Lagos' in 1992. In 1993 he Directed the mini-series
'The Buddha of Suburbia', with his feature film debut coming in 1997 with
'My Night with Reg'. 'Titanic Town' followed in 1998 with Julie Walters and Ciaran Hinds, then
'Notting Hill' in 1999 with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts,
'Changing Lanes' in 2002 with Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson,
'The Mother' in 2003 with Anne Reid and Daniel Craig,
'Enduring Love' in 2004 with Rhys Ifans and Daniel Craig,
'Venus' in 2006 with Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips,
'Morning Glory' in 2010 with Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton,
'Hyde Park on Hudson' in 2012 with Bill Murray, Laura Linney and Olivia Colman,
'Le Week-end' in 2013 with Jim Broadbent, Jeff Goldblum and Lindsay Duncan,
'My Cousin Rachel' in 2017 with Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin, the documentary
'Tea With the Dames' in 2018 with Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins,
'Blackbird' in 2019 with Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, Mia Wasikowska, Kate Winslet and Lindsay Duncan, with the yet to be released
'The Duke' with Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. Michell was the recipient of seven award wins and another seventeen nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. He worked as Assistant Director at The Royal Court Theatre, was Resident Director at The Royal Shakespeare Company, Directed a number of productions at The National Theatre, The Hampstead Theatre and The Old Vic.
* Tommy Kirk - born 10th December 1941 and died 28th September 2021, aged 79. Kirk was an American Actor of film and television who accumulated fifty-six screen acting credits to his name in a career beginning in an episode of
'TV Reader's Digest' titled
'The Last of the Old Time Shooting Sheriffs' in 1955. His big screen debut came in an uncredited role in 1956's
'The Peacemaker', with his first credited role coming in a year later in 1957 in Disney's
'Old Yeller'. He followed this up with others including
'The Shaggy Dog' in 1959 with Fred MacMurray,
'Swiss Family Robinson' in 1960 with John Mills,
'Bon Voyage!' in 1962 with Fred MacMurray again,
'Son of Flubber' in 1963 with Fred MacMurray once more,
'The Misadventures of Merlin Jones' in 1964 in which Kirk took the title role,
'Pajama Party' that same year,
'Village of the Giants' in 1965 with Ron Howard and Beau Bridges, with
'The Education of a Vampire' in 2001 being his final screen role. There were numerous other Walt Disney productions and B-Grade movies in between, as well as appearances on TV shows taking in the likes of
'Gunsmoke', on nineteen episodes of
'The Hardy Boys : The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure', on ten episodes of
'The Hardy Boys : The Mystery of the Ghost Farm', and
'The Streets of San Fransisco'. Kirk got over a long standing drug addiction and gave up acting in the mid-'70's aside from a few sporadic roles since. He worked as a waiter and a chauffeur before going into the carpet cleaning business in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, an operation which he ran for twenty years. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in October 2006.
* Michael Tylo - born 16th October 1947, died 28th September 2021, aged 73. Tylo was an American Actor of film and television who notched up thirty screen acting credits during his career which kick started in 1973 with the feature film
'Detroit 9000' which he followed up with other big screen roles in
'The Misery Brothers' in 1995,
'Intrepid' in 2000 with James Coburn,
'Vegas, City of Dreams' in 2001,
'Longshot' that same year with Paul Sorvino and Justin Timberlake,
'Race to Space' also in 2001 with James Woods,
'Prototype' in 2009,
'Little Monsters' in 2012 and
'Stealing Las Vegas' with Eric Roberts in 2012 being his final film credit. Over the years in between, there were appearances on TV shows taking in the likes of
'All My Children', 'General Hospital', on fifty episodes of
'Zorro', on sixty-three of
'The Young and the Restless', on forty-three of
'Guiding Light', on six of
'The Bold and the Beautiful', and finally lending his voice to the character of Deathstroke in the TV mini-series
'Nightwing : The Series' in 2014. Tylo was a full-time Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, teaching in the film department of the College of Fine Arts.
* Ravil Isyanov - born 20th August 1962 and died 30th September 2021, aged 59. Isyanov was a Russian born American Actor who emigrated to the USA in 1991. During his career he accumulated seventy-two film and television acting credits with feature films including his debut
'Back in the U.S.S.R' in 1992 which he followed up with
'Two Deaths' in 1995 with Patrick Malahide and Ion Caramitru, then
'Hackers' that same year with Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie,
'GoldenEye' also in '95 with Pierce Brosnan playing James Bond,
'Hamlet' for and with Kenneth Branagh in 1996,
'The Saint' in 1997 with Val Kilmer,
'The Jackal' also in 1997 with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere,
'Along Came a Spider' in 2001 with Morgan Freeman,
'K-19 : The Widowmaker' in 2002 with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson,
'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' in 2005 with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,
'The Good German' in 2006 with George Clooney and Cate Blanchett,
'Defiance' in 2008 with Daniel Craig,
'Transformers : Dark of the Moon' in 2011 with Shia LaBeouf,
'Follow Me' in 2020, with
'25 Cents Per Minute' and
'Blonde' with Ana de Armas both currently in post-production for a future release. In the intervening years there were also appearances on TV series taking in
'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles', 'EastEnders', 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'JAG', 'Alias', '24', 'NCIS', 'The Unit', 'Prison Break', 'Bones', 'The Mentalist', 'Burn Notice', 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.', 'The Americans', 'GLOW', and on seven episodes of
'NCIS : Los Angeles' most recently.
Twenty-five 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, including here in Australia. 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 for a few more weeks yet - watch a movie on your favoured streaming service from the comfort of your own home. R.I.P. you screen legends.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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