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 . . . . . Pauline Stroud, Just Jaeckin, David A. Arnold, Marsha Hunt, Gwyneth Powell, Mark Miller, Jack Ging, Harry Landis, Jack Charles, Jean-Luc Godard, Irene Papas, Henry Silva, Marva Hicks, John Hamblin, Louise Fletcher, Zack Estrin, Rita Gardner, Venetia Stevenson, Joan Hotchkis and Coolio.
* Pauline Stroud - born 21st March 1930, with her death being reported on 4th September 2022, aged 92. Stroud was a British Actress who notched up twenty-eight screen acting roles during her career which ran from 1951 until 1972 kicking off with her debut in the feature film
'Bikini Baby' (previously titled
'Lady Godiva Rides Again') in 1951 with Diana Dors and Dennis Price. From here, she would follow this up with other films including
'Her Three Bachelors' in 1953,
'Room 43' in 1958 with Diana Dors and Herbert Lom,
'Life in Emergency Ward 10' in 1959 with an uncredited role in
'The Heart of a Man' in 1959 with Frankie Vaughan and Anne Heywood being her last big screen appearance. There were other small screen roles taking in the likes of ten episodes of
'Skyport' in 1960,
'Harpers West One', 'Ghost Squad', '24-Hour Call', 'Mogul', 'The Beverly Hillbillies', 'New Scotland Yard' and
'Dead of Night' in 1972 being her final screen credit. She was under a five-year contract to make films from 1951 onwards but her fiance at the time wanted her to give up acting, and although she later broke off that engagement, she had already broken her film contract which harmed her future career prospects.
* Just Jaeckin - born 8th August 1940 and died 6th September 2022, aged 82. Jaeckin was a French Director, Writer and infrequent Actor who generated just eleven screen Directing credits to his name which kicked off with
'Emmanuelle' in 1974 and which launched the career of Sylvia Kristel. He would follow this up with
'The Story of O' in 1975,
'Madame Claude' in 1977,
'The Last Romantic Lover' in 1978,
'Girls' in 1980,
'Lady Chatterley's Lover' in 1981 with Sylvia Kristel again, and
'The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak' in 1984 being his last feature film outing. His final film credit came with a segment in the documentary film
'The King of Ads' in 1991 - a collection of European TV commercials Directed by a variety of well-known Directors from across Europe and the US. Jaeckin was also a successful photographer, with his pictures having appeared in such glossy fashion magazines as
'Vogue', 'Elle', and
'Harpers Bazaar'. When he retired from film making he concentrated his efforts on photography and sculpture.
* David A. Arnold - born 15th March 1968 and died 5th September 2022, aged 54. Arnold was an American stand-up comedian, Writer, Producer, Director and Actor who accumulated twenty writing credits, seventeen as an Actor, ten as Producer and three as Director whose career began in the 1999 feature film
'Whiteboyz'. Following a couple of video movies his first turn at Directing, Writing, Producing and starring came along with the thirty minute short film
'Because My Stand-Up Is Not Enough!!' in 2004, which he would follow up with other films taking in
'Camden' in 2005,
'Something Like a Business' in 2010 with Kevin Hart and
'Bad Ass' in 2012 with Danny Trejo and Ron Perlman being his last feature film. In the meantime and since he also wrote and produced multiple episodes of
'Meet the Browns', 'House of Payne', 'The Rickey Smiley Show', 'Bigger', 'Fuller House', 'Side Hustle', and
'That Girl Lay Lay'. He also had two stand-up comedy specials on Netflix,
'David A. Arnold : Fat Ballerina' and
'It Ain't For The Weak'.
* Marsha Hunt - born
Marcia Virginia Hunt on 17th October 1917 and died 7th September 2022, aged 104. Hunt was an American Actress, model and activist, who generated 116 screen acting credits throughout her eight decade spanning career which launched in 1935 in the feature film
'The Virginia Judge'. She would follow this over over the ensuing years in other features including
'The Arizona Raiders' in 1936 with Buster Crabbe,
'Born to the West' in 1937 with John Wayne,
'The Hardys Ride High' in 1939 with Mickey Rooney,
'Pride and Prejudice' in 1940 with Laurence Olivier,
'Unholy Partners' in 1941 with Edward G. Robinson,
'Pilot #5' in 1943 with Gene Kelly,
'The Valley of Decision' in 1945 with Gregory Peck,
'Bombers B-52' in 1957 with Karl Malden and Natalie Wood,
'Johnny Got His Gun' in 1971 with Donald Sutherland, with
'Chloe's Prayer' in 2006 being her final feature film appearance. In the meantime, there were also numerous TV movies, short films and TV series roles taking in fourteen episodes on
'Peck's Bad Girl', 'Laramie', 'The Americans', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Outer Limits', 'The Twilight Zone', 'Ironside', 'Police Story', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Star Trek : The Next Generation' and the TV movie
'Empire State Building Murders' in 2008 being her final screen appearance. Nine days after her 30th birthday, HUAC (House Un-American Activities Commission) ordered her and 151 other Hollywood Actors, Directors, and Screenwriters to testify about 'Communist influences' in the movie industry. She, Dalton Trumbo, and seventeen others refused to participate. She was blacklisted at age 32 and had trouble finding film roles afterwards, although she did make the transition to television and theatre reasonably successfully. Following her blacklisting, she championed humanitarian causes, forging a new career as one of Hollywood's first celebrity activists. Hunt identified as a political liberal and was very concerned with such issues as global pollution, worldwide poverty, peace in Third World nations, and population growth.
* Gwyneth Powell - born 5th July 1946 and died 8th September 2022, aged 76. Powell was an English Actress of film and television who amassed fifty-four screen acting credits during her career which launched on a single episode of
'Rogue's Gallery' in 1969. Her first big screen role came in 1976 in
'Face of Darkness' followed by
'Loophole' in 1981 with Martin Sheen and Albert Finney, then
'A Kind of Hush' in 1999,
'Back to the Secret Garden' in 2000 with Joan Plowright, with
'Piccadilly Cowboy' in 2007, being her final film outing. In the years in between and since there have been many TV series and made for TV movies including eleven episodes on
'The Guardians', on six of
'Couples' and six of
'Emmerdale Farm', 'Dixon of Dock Green', 'Coronation Street', 'The Gentle Touch' and then on 169 of perhaps her best remembered role as Headmistress Mrs. McClusky on
'Grange Hill' between 1980 and 1991. Then came the likes of
'A Touch of Frost', 'Peak Practice', 'Holby City', on eleven episodes of
'Echo Beach', 'Heartbeat', on ten of
'House of Anubis', on twenty-four of
'Man Down', 'Doctors' and
'Grace' as recently as this year.
* Mark Miller - born
Claude Herbert Miller Jnr. on 20th November 1924 and died 9th September 2022 aged 97. Miller was an American Actor of stage, film and television and Writer, who amassed fifty-one screen acting roles and eleven writing credits throughout his career which kicked off on a single episode of the TV series
'The Inner Flame' in 1954. His first big screen role came in the English language Swedish film
'Blonde in Bondage' in 1957, followed by
'The Hook' in 1963 with Kirk Douglas,
'Youngblood Hawke' in 1964 with James Franciscus and Suzanne Pleshette,
'Ginger in the Morning' in 1974 with Sissy Spacek,
'Mr. Sycamore' in 1975 with Jason Robards and Jean Simmons,
'Dixie Dynamite' in 1976 with Warren Oates,
'Christmas Mountain' in 1981 with Slim Pickens and
'Savannah Smiles' in 1982 being his final feature film outing and for which he also wrote the screenplay. In the intervening years there were also roles on TV series taking in the likes of thirty-eight episodes on
'Guestward Ho!', 'The Twilight Zone', 'General Hospital', on fifty-eight episodes of
'Please Don't Eat the Daises', 'The Invaders', on thirteen of
'Bright Promise', 'The F.B.I.', 'Kung Fu', 'The Waltons', and on seventeen of
'The Days of Our Lives' being his last small screen appearance between 1975 and '76. Miller segued into writing TV scripts from 1966 and also co-wrote the screenplay for the Keanu Reeves 1995 RomCom
'A Walk in the Clouds'. In 2010, he authored the romantic comedy play
'Amorous Crossings' starring Loretta Swit, which had a four-week run at the Alhambra Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida, performing to packed audiences.
* Jack Ging - born 30th November 1931 and died 9th September 2022, aged 90. Ging was an American Actor who accumulated 111 screen acting credits throughout his career which spanned five decades and which kicked off on a single episode of the TV series
'The Rough Riders' in 1958. His first big screen role, albeit uncredited, came also in 1958 in
'Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!' with Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Joan Collins. He would follow this up with other appearances in feature films including his debut credited role in
'Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow' in 1959, then
'Sniper's Ridge' in 1961,
'Intimacy' in 1966,
'Mosby's Marauders' in 1967 with Kurt Russell,
'Hang 'Em High' in 1968 with Clint Eastwood (although uncredited),
'Play Misty for Me' in 1971 for and with Clint Eastwood again,
'High Plains Drifter' in 1973 with and for Clint Eastwood once more,
'That Man Bolt' also in 1973 with Fred Williamson,
'Another Man, Another Chance' in 1977 with James Caan and Genevieve Bujold (again in an uncredited role) with
'Die, Sister Die' in 1978 being his final feature film role. In the meantime and the years since there have been numerous TV mini-series, made for TV movies, and series taking in the likes of
'Wanted : Dead or Alive', 'The Twilight Zone', on fourteen episodes of
'The Tales of Wells Fargo', 'Perry Mason', on fifty-nine episodes of
'The Eleventh Hour', 'Gunsmoke', 'Bonanza', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'The Virginian', 'Lassie', 'Mission : Impossible', 'The F.B.I.', 'The Magician', 'Mannix', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', 'The Bionic Woman', 'The Waltons', 'Kojak', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Fantasy Island', 'Barnaby Jones', 'Hart to Hart', 'The Fall Guy', on thirty-one episodes of
'Riptide', on eight of
'The A-Team' and with his final screen role coming in 1994 on a single episode of
'Wings'. Aside from his acting career, Ging had a prosperous sideline in real estate and was known as an expert golfer and a one-time Clint Eastwood Celebrity Tennis tournament champion.
* Harry Landis - born 25th November 1931 and died 12th September 2022, aged 90. Landis was a British Actor of film and TV who amassed 112 screen acting roles throughout his seven decade spanning career, which kicked off on three episodes of
'The Prince and the Pauper' in 1955. His first feature film came the following year in 1956 with
'Hell in Korea' with Stephen Boyd, and he would follow this up with other films including
'Dunkirk' in 1958 with Richard Attenborough and John Mills,
'The Terrorists' in 1974 with Sean Connery and Ian McShane,
'Edge of Sanity' in 1989 with Anthony Perkins with
'Edge of Tomorrow' in 2014 with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt being his final film appearance. In the meantime, and since there were numerous TV series and mini-series taking in the likes of
'Oliver Twist', 'The Avengers', six episodes on
'The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling', 'The Saint', 'Z Cars', seven episodes on
'Dixon of Dock Green', 'A Woman of Substance', 'Bergerac', 'Jeeves and Wooster', 'Minder', 'Lovejoy', on fifty-three episodes of
'EastEnders', 'The Bill', 'Holby City', 'Friday Night Dinner', 'Doctors' and
'Casualty' being his last screen role in 2018. Landis was President of the Actor's union Equity from 2002 to 2008 and between 1994 and 2001 he also served as Director of the Equity Charitable Trust. He was also an accomplished theatre Director and after directing a few productions at the Unity Theatre, including a well-received production of
'Death of A Salesman', he became the Artistic Director of the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, where he directed some forty plays and two pantomimes. He went on to direct national tours of
'The Long and The Short and the Tall' and
'The Return of Sherlock Holmes'.
* Jack Charles - born 5th September 1943 and died 13th September 2022, aged 79. He was one of the 'Stolen Generations' - Australian indigenous children forcibly taken from their parents as part of a government policy to 'assimilate' Aboriginal children into white families. He was taken from his mother when he was four months old. Charles was an Australian Actor, musician and Aboriginal Elder who notched up forty-seven screen acting credits during his almost six decade spanning career, starting off in 1973 in a big screen recording of
'Dimboola : The Stage Play'. His other big screen roles included Fred Schepisi's
'The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith' in 1978, then
'Bedevil' in 1993 and
'Blackfellas' that same year,
'Tom White' in 2004 with Colin Friels,
'Mystery Road' in 2013 with Hugo Weaving and Aaron Pedersen,
'The Darkside' also in 2013,
'Pan' in 2015 with Levi Miller and Hugh Jackman,
'True History of the Kelly Gang' in 2019 with George Mackay, Nicholas Hoult and Russell Crowe with the animated Netflix film
'Back to the Outback' in 2021 featuring an all star Australian voice cast and
'Life After Man' currently in post-production awaiting a future release. In the intervening years there were short films, TV mini-series, made for TV movies and TV series roles on the likes of eleven episodes of
'Ben Hall', 'Woodley', 'Problems', 'The Gods of Wheat Street', 'Wolf Creek', 'Rake', 'Cleverman', 'Rosehaven' and on six episodes of
'Preppers' as recently as 2021. Charles was the subject of a remarkable 2008 documentary
'Bastardy', which followed his life for seven years. The film's tagline described him as an 'Addict. Homosexual. Cat burglar. Actor. Aboriginal'. The film was an official selection for the Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney and Sheffield Doc/Fest film festivals. In 2014, Charles received a Lifetime Achievement award from Victoria's Green Room Awards, being the first Indigenous recipient, and in 2019, he was awarded the Red Ochre Award from the Australian Council for the Arts. This award is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian artist for lifetime achievement. He also had roles in a number of stage plays in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and internationally. Charles' memoir,
'Jack Charles : Born-Again Blakfella' was published in August 2020.
* Jean-Luc Godard - born 3rd December 1930 and died 13th September 2022, aged 91. Godard was a French-Swiss film Director, Screenwriter, Editor, Producer, Actor, Cinematographer and film critic who rose to prominence as a pioneer of the 1960's French New Wave film movement and was arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era. His screen credits take in an enormous back catalogue of feature films, documentaries, short films, and TV series encompassing 131 Directing credits, ninety-eight as Writer, fifty-four as editor, forty-seven as Actor, twenty-nine as Producer and nine as Cinematographer. His career began with an uncredited actor part on the film
'The Glass Castle' in 1950, which he would follow up that same year with his first credited Actor and Producer role in the forty minute short film
'The Quadrille'. His first Directing credit came in 1955 with the short ten minute film
'A Flirtatious Woman' in 1955 with his debut feature film
'Breathless' in 1960 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg with won Godard the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1960 for Best Director. He would follow this up with other notable feature films including
'A Woman Is a Woman' in 1961 with Anna Karina (with whom he was married to from 1961 until 1967) and Jean-Paul Belmondo,
'Le Petit Soldat' in 1963 with Anna Karina,
'Contempt' also in 1963 with Brigitte Bardot and Jack Palance,
'Band of Outsiders' in 1964 with Anna Karina,
'Alphaville' in 1965 with Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina,
'Pierrot le Fou' with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina in 1965,
'Tout Va Bien' in 1972 with Yves Montand and Jane Fonda,
'Every Man for Himself' in 1980 with Isabelle Huppert and Nathalie Baye,
'King Lear' in 1987 with an uncredited cast of A-list talent with
'Goodbye to Language' being his final feature film credit in 2014 and
'The Image Book' his final documentary film in 2018. All up Godard was the recipient of fifty-one award wins and another seventy-six nominations from around the awards and festivals circuits.
* Irene Papas - born
Eirini Lelekou on 3rd September 1929 and died 14th September 2022, aged 96. Papas was a Greek Actress and singer who notched up eight-five screen acting credits during her seven decade spanning career which launched in the 1948 feature film
'Fallen Angels'. She would follow this up over the subsequent years with the likes of
'Dead City' in 1951,
'The Unfaithfuls' in 1953 with Gina Lollobrigida,
'The Man from Cairo' that same year with George Raft,
'Attila' in 1954 with Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren,
'Tribute to a Bad Man' in 1956 with James Cagney,
'The Guns of Navarone' in 1961 with Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn,
'Antigone' and
'Electra' in 1961 and 1962 respectively in which she played the lead character,
'Zorba the Greek' in 1964 with Anthony Quinn again,
'The Brotherhood' in 1968 with Kirk Douglas,
'Z' in 1969 with Yves Montand and Jean-Louis Trintignant,
'A Dream of Kings' also in 1969 with Anthony Quinn once more,
'Anne of the Thousand Days' in 1969 with Richard Burton,
'The Trojan Women' in 1971 with Katherine Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave,
'The Message' in 1976 with Anthony Quinn again,
'Bloodline' in 1979 with Audrey Hepburn and James Mason,
'The Lion of the Desert' in 1980 with Anthony Quinn and Oliver Reed,
'The Assisi Underground' in 1985 with Ben Cross and James Mason,
'High Season' in 1987 with Jacqueline Bisset, Kenneth Branagh and James Fox,
'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' in 2001 with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz,
'A Talking Picture' in 2003 with John Malkovich and
'Ecuba' in 2004 being her final screen role and which she also Co-Directed. All up Papas won six Awards and one nomination from around the awards and festivals circuit including the National Board of Review win for Best Actress in
'The Trojan Women'. She also released an number of albums -
'Songs of Theodorakis' in 1969,
'Odes' in 1979 and
'Rapsodies' in 1986.
* Henry Silva - born 23rd September 1926 and died 14th September 2022, aged 95. Silva was an American Actor of film and TV who amassed 140 screen acting roles during his six decade spanning career, which launched on a single episode of the
'Armstrong Circle Theatre' titled
'It's Only a Game' in 1950. His first big screen role came with an uncredited appearance in
'Viva Zapata!' in 1952 with Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn, which he followed up in 1956 with his first credited role in
'Crowded Paradise'. Over the ensuing years there were roles in numerous other feature films including
'A Hatful of Rain' in 1957 with Eva Marie Saint,
'Ride a Crooked Trail' in 1958 with Audie Murphy,
'Ocean's Eleven' in 1960 with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr.,
'Sergeants's 3' in 1962 with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. again,
'The Manchurian Candidate' also in 1962 with Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh,
'A Gathering of Eagles' in 1963 with Rock Hudson,
'Johnny Cool' also in 1963 in which Silva played the title role,
'Shoot' in 1976 with Cliff Robertson and Ernest Borgnine,
'Contract on Cherry Street' in 1977 with Frank Sinatra,
'Love and Bullets' in 1979 with Charles Bronson and Jill Ireland,
'Sharky's Machine' in 1981 with Burt Reynolds,
'Cannonball Run II' in 1984 with Burt Reynolds,
'Dick Tracy' in 1990 for and with Warren Beatty,
'Mad Dog Time' in 1996 with Gabriel Byrne, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Dreyfus and Burt Reynolds,
'The End of Violence' in 1997 with Gabriel Byrne and Bill Pullman,
'Ghost Dog : The Way of the Samurai' in 1999 with Forest Whitaker and a bit part in
'Ocean's Eleven' in 2001 with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts being his final screen role. In the years in between, there were many appearances on TV shows taking in the likes of
'The Untouchables', 'Dr. Kildare', 'The Outer Limits', 'Wagon Train', 'Tarzan', 'Laredo', 'The High Chaparral', 'Mission : Impossible', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'The F.B.I.', and providing the voice of Bane on
'Batman : The Animated Series', 'The New Batman Adventures' and
'Superman : The Animated Series'. Between 1966 and 1977 he starred or co-starred in 25+ movies, the majority of which were Italian Eurocrime films, where he normally played the villain or hitman, or the dark hero, or a combination of the two. These included 1972's
'Manhunt', 'Il Boss' in 1973 and
'Almost Human' in 1974. In 2012 he contributed to
'Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films that ruled the 70's', a feature-length documentary Directed by Mike Malloy.
* Marva Hicks - born 5th May 1975 and died 16th September 2022, aged 47. Hicks was an American R&B singer and Actress who generated twenty-four screen acting credits throughout her career beginning with her first role on the feature film
'Enemy Territory' in 1987. She would follow this up with other films including
'Bodies, Rest & Motion' in 1993 with Phoebe Cates, Tim Roth, and Bridget Fonda,
'Virtuosity' in 1995 with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe,
'Asunder' in 1999 with Blair Underwood with
'Labor Day' in 2013 with Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet being her final film role. In the meantime, and since, there have been episodes on TV shows and made for TV movies taking in the likes of
'One Life to Live', 'L.A. Law', 'Mad About You', 'Sister, Sister', 'Babylon 5', 'Star Trek : Voyager', 'House of Cards', 'Daredevil', 'The Blacklist' and
'Madam Secretary' being her last screen appearance in 2019. Hicks was also an accomplished singer, being one of Michael Jackson's back-up singers on his last world tour, and has also toured with Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and James Ingram.
* John Hamblin - born 18th March 1935 and died 21st September 2022, aged 87. Hamblin was an English born Australian children's TV presenter and Actor of stage and screen, who amassed thirty-six screen acting credits throughout his six decade spanning career which began in 1959 on the TV miniseries
'Quatermass and the Pit'. His first big screen role came with an uncredited appearance in
'Season of Passion' in 1959 with Ernest Borgnine, John Mills, Angela Lansbury and Anne Baxter, with his only other feature film credit being
'A Street to Die' in 1985. In the years in between and since there were roles on TV miniseries and shows taking in the likes of
'Riptide', 'Number 96', on 383 episodes of
'Class of '75', on nine of
'Case for the Defence', on 116 on
'The Restless Years', 'The Young Doctors', 'A Country Practice', 'Sons and Daughters', 'All Saints', 'Love My Way' and his final screen role coming in the 2009 twelve minute short film
'There's a Heaven Above You'. Hamblin, is however, perhaps best known for being one of the presenters for twenty-nine years on the Australian children's programme
'Play School' from 1970 to 1999 across 357 episodes. In 2016, he returned briefly for a special guest appearance as part of
'Play School's' 50th Anniversary special. Hamblin suffered a heart attack in 2003, and five years later, he published his memoirs
'Open Wide, Come Inside' with Peter Richman.
* Louise Fletcher - born
Estelle Louise Fletcher on 22nd July 1934 and died 23rd September 2022, aged 88. Fletcher was an American Actress of cinema and television who accumulated 137 screen acting credits throughout her seven decade spanning career which began in 1958 on a single episode of
'Flight'. Her debut feature film role came with
'A Gathering of Eagles' in 1963 with Rock Hudson, and she would follow this up over the ensuing years with other features including
'Thieves Likes Us' in 1974 for Robert Altman, then perhaps her most highly regarded role in
'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' in 1975 with Jack Nicholson which won her the Academy Award, the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for Best Actress for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched. Next came
'Exorcist II : The Heretic' with Richard Burton in 1977,
'Brainstorm' in 1983 with Christopher Walken,
'Firestarter' in 1984 with Drew Barrymore,
'Flowers in the Attic' in 1987 with Victoria Tennant,
'Best of the Best' in 1989 with Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones,
'Blue Steel' in 1990 with Jamie Lee Curtis,
'The Player' in 1992 for Robert Altman again and with Tim Robbins,
'Virtuosity' in 1995 with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe,
'2 Days in the Valley' in 1996 with Teri Hatcher and Jeff Daniels,
'Cruel Intentions' in 1999 with Ryan Phillippe and Reece Witherspoon with
'A Perfect Man' in 2013 with Liev Schreiber and Jeanne Tripplehorn being her final feature film role. In the meantime there were numerous TV movies and TV series appearances taking in the likes of
'Lawman', 'Maverick', 'The Untouchables', 'Wagon Train', 'The Twilight Zone', 'Tales from the Crypt', 'Picket Fences', 'The Practice', 'Fantasy Island', on fourteen episodes of
'Star Trek : Deep Space Nine', 'ER', 'Heroes', 'Shameless' and two episodes of
'Girlboss' in 2017 being her final screen credit. All up Fletcher was the recipient of thirteen award wins and a further ten nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit.
* Zack Estrin - born sometime in 1971, died 23rd September 2022, aged 51. Estrin was a Writer and Producer of TV series and the occasional film who accumulated eighteen Producer credits and fifteen as Writer throughout his career which began with Executive Producer credit on the film
'Stranger than Fiction' in 2000. From here he would go on to have Co-Producer, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive and Executive Producer on multiple episodes of the likes of
'Charmed', 'Dawson's Creek', 'Miracles', 'Tru Calling', 'Prison Break', 'The Good Guys', 'No Ordinary Family', 'Zero Hour', 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland', 'The Whispers' with his final Producer and Showrunner credit being on three seasons of the Netflix show
'Lost in Space'. He also wrote numerous episodes of the aforementioned TV series too.
* Rita Gardner - born 23rd October 1934 and died 25th September 2022, aged 87. Gardner was an American Actress and singer of theatre, cinema and television who notched up twenty-seven screen acting roles during her career which launched in the feature film
'One Plus One' in 1961. She would go on to have appearances on five episodes of
'The Doctors' in 1963 and then just a small handful of roles up to 2000, after which she reprised her acting career with feature films including
'The Perfect You' in 2000,
'Marci X' in 2003 with Lisa Kudrow,
'The Good Student' with Hayden Panettiere in 2006,
'P.S. I Love You' in 2007 with Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler,
'Tiger Lily Road' in 2013 with Tom Pelphrey with
'Shiva Baby' with Rachel Sennott in 2020 being her final film role. In the meantime and since there have also been roles on
'Law & Order', 'Law & Order : Criminal Intent', 'Law & Order : SVU', '30 Rock', 'The Last O.G.', and on four episodes of
'Little Voice' being her final screen role in 2020. She also appeared in a number of Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions including her breakout role in the original cast of 1960's
'The Fantasticks'.
* Venetia Stevenson - born
Joanna Venetia Invicta Stevenson on 10th March 1938 and died 26th September 2022 aged 84. Stevenson was an English born American Actress who was the daughter of film Director Robert Stevenson and actress Anna Lee. The family moved to Hollywood within a year of her birth after her father signed a contract with film Producer David O. Selznick. She notched up just twenty-two screen acting credits throughout her relatively short lived Hollywood career which began on the TV series
'Cavalcade of America' in 1954 with her first big screen role coming in 1958 in
'Darby's Rangers' with James Garner. Stevenson would follow this up with other feature films including
'Island of Lost Women' in 1959,
'Day of the Outlaw' also in 1959 with Robert Ryan,
'Jet Over the Atlantic' also in 1959 with Virginia Mayo and George Raft,
'The City of the Dead' in 1960 with Christopher Lee,
'Seven Ways from Sundown' in 1960 with Audie Murphy with
'The Sergeant Was a Lady' in 1961 being her final screen acting role. Stevenson in the meantime appeared on television in episodes of
'Cheyenne', 'Colt .45', '77 Sunset Strip', 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet', 'Lawman', 'The Millionaire' and
'The Third Man'. She did however, venture back into film production during the 1980's working as Executive in charge of Production on the films
'Take This Job and Shove It' in 1981,
'Southern Comfort' also in 1981,
'Born American' in 1986 and
'Hollywood Vice Squad' that same year being her final credit in this arena. She did return with her sole Producer credit in 1991 on
'Servants of Twilight' with Bruce Greenwood.
* Joan Hotchkis - born 21st September 1927 and died 27th September 2022, aged 95. Hotchkis was an American Actress of stage, television and cinema, writer, performance artist and lifetime member of the Actors Studio and Dramatists Guild of America. During her five decade spanning acting career she accumulated thirty-nine screen roles which began in 1954 on a single episode of
'The Secret Storm', with her first feature film role coming in 1971 with
'The Late Liz' with Anne Baxter. She would follow this up with other films including
'Breezy' for Clint Eastwood in 1973 with William Holden and Kay Lenz,
'Legacy' in 1975 which she also wrote,
'Ode to Billy Joe' in 1976,
'Old Boyfriends' in 1979 with Talia Shire and John Belushi with
'The Last Game' in 1984 being her final feature film appearance. In the intervening years and since there have been made for TV movies and roles on TV series taking in the likes of twenty-six episodes of
'My World and Welcome to It', 'Bewitched', on eleven episodes of
'The Odd Couple', 'Mannix', 'The F.B.I.', 'Executive Suite', 'Charlie's Angels', 'Lou Grant', on sixty-five of
'The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts', 'St. Elsewhere' and her final TV role was in the made for television movie
'The Disappearance of Christina' in 1993. She also worked as a part-time paraprofessional in aggression training at the Institute of Group Psychotherapy in California, and was the CEO of Tearsheets Productions, Inc., whose HQ was in Santa Monica, California.
* Coolio - born
Artis Leon Ivey Jnr. on 1st August 1963 and died 28th September 2022, aged 59. Coolio was an American rapper and Actor who garnered 109 screen acting roles during his film and TV career which began (following several of his own music video productions) with a single episode on the 1995 TV series
'Martin'. His first feature film was
'Phat Beach' in 1996, followed by small parts in the likes of
'Dear God' with Greg Kinnear that same year, then
'Batman & Robin' in 1997 with George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger,
'Gangland' in 2001,
'Daredevil' in 2003 with Ben Affleck (although in the Director's Cut only),
'Dracula 3000' in 2004 with Casper Van Dien,
'Three Days to Vegas' in 2007 with George Segal and Rip Torn, with
'Nina' in 2017 and
'Bobcat Moretti' being his final feature film that has recently completed filming and is set for a future release date. In the years in between there were also small roles on TV series including
'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', 'The Nanny', 'V.I.P.', 'Arli$$', 'Charmed', 'Star-ving', 'Futurama' and
'Teachers'. Coolio was the recipient of six award wins and a further thirteen nominations from around the awards and festival circuit mostly for his music video work and his rapping. Coolio launched his book,
'Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price' in 2009, which would become a New York Times bestseller. This move expanded his audience base from the screen and the stage to kitchens across the globe. Branding himself as the 'ghetto gourmet', he used his creativity and the inspiration of his mother to refine old-school recipes into accessible, fresh and healthy options.
With twenty deaths reported this month from the film and television community at large, that community is just a little bit poorer as a result. As many of us the world over are now learning to live with COVID, despite many countries, including Australia, now gripped by its third wave and in some cases a fourth wave. As life reverts almost back to normalcy, we should all, however, continue to be cautious by remembering the basic principles that continue to be advocated and together we can all beat this thing and keep on top of it. Stay safe and remain healthy wherever you are in the world. R.I.P. you screen legends.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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