In May the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen and the small screen. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, and in particular the world of film and television. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories . . . .
Alvin Sargent, Carmine Caridi, Peggy Lipton and
Doris Day.
* Alvin Sargent, born Alvin Supowitz on April 12th 1927 and died on May 9th 2019, aged 92. He was an American Screenwriter who wrote forty-four feature films, made for television movies and series. He was the recipient of nine award wins and another six nominations including two Academy Award wins, the first in 1978 and the again in 1981, for his Screenplays on
'Julia' and
'Ordinary People' respectively. Before turning his attention to writing he had a brief time as an Actor, playing the uncredited role of 'Nair' alongside Montgomery Clift in
'From Here To Eternity', which won the Oscar for Best Film in 1953. Sargent began writing for television in 1953 and throughout the '60's he wrote episodes for
'Route 66', 'Ben Casey' and
'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'. He collaborated on his first screenplay for the 1966 film
'Gambit' and gained recognition for 1970's
'I Walk the Line' and 1973's
'Paper Moon'. His other more notable credits also included 1977's
'Bobby Deerfield', 1987's
'Nuts', 1990's
'White Palace', 1991's
'Other People's Money', 1996's
'Bogus', 2002's
'Unfaithful', on each of Sam Raimi's three
'Spider-Man' films and on 2012's
'The Amazing Spider-Man' plus his final work
'Miami Heist' due for a 2020 release.
*
Peggy Lipton, born Margaret Anne Lipton on August 30th 1946 and died May 11th 2019, aged 72. She was an American Actress, Singer and Model, well known for her role as flower child Julie Barnes in the counterculture popular TV series
'The Mod Squad' which ran from 1968 through until 1973 and for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1970. At 15, Lipton became a Ford Agency Model and enjoyed a successful early career. She made her television debut at age 19 in the NBC sitcom
'The John Forsythe Show' and during the latter half of the '60's, she appeared in episodes of
'Bewitched', 'The Virginian', 'The Invaders', 'The Road West', 'The F.B.I.' and
'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'. After this, perhaps her most famed role was as Norma Jennings in cult classic
'Twin Peaks' in 1990 - a role she would reprise in 2017 with film roles in between time including
'Purple People Eater' in 1988,
'Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me' in in 1992,
'The Postman' in 1997,
'The Intern' in 2000,
'When in Rome' in 2010, and
'A Dog's Purpose' in 2017. Lipton was married to famed Singer/Songwriter Quincy Jones from 1974 until 1990 with whom she had two daughters - both Actresses, Kidada and Rashida Jones.
*
Doris Day, born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3rd 1922, died May 13th 2019, aged 97. She was an American Actress, Singer and animal welfare activist, who began her career as a Big Band singer in the late '30's and from 1947 through until 1967 she recorded over 650 songs. Her film career began during the latter part of the Golden Age of Hollywood with the 1948 film
'Romance on the High Seas' which in turn led to a twenty year career as a film Actress spanning 43 film and television credits. This was followed up in 1949 with
'It's a Great Feeling' with an ensemble cast and she subsequently starred in films of many genres, including musicals, comedies, thrillers and dramas. She played the title role in
'Calamity Jane' in 1953 and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's
'The Man Who Knew Too Much' in 1956 with James Stewart. Her best-known films are those in which she co-starred with Rock Hudson, chief among them 1959's
'Pillow Talk', for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, plus
1961's
'Lover Come Back' and 1964's
'Send Me No Flowers'. She also worked with James Garner on both of 1963's
'Move Over, Darling' and
'The Thrill of It All', and also starred with the likes of Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Kirk Douglas, James Cagney, David Niven, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Rod Taylor, Richard Widmark, Ronald Reagan and Lauren Bacall. After ending her film career in 1968, only briefly removed from the height of her popularity, she starred in her own sitcom
'The Doris Day Show' which ran from 1968–1973. Day became one of the biggest movie stars in the early '60's, and as of 2012 was one of only eight performers to have been the top Box Office earner in the USA four times over. In 2011 she released her 29th studio recorded album, and amongst her award wins (of which there were 25 in total plus another 23 nominations for her TV and film work alone) was the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. In 2004 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was an avid animal lover and in 1971 she co-founded
'Actors and Others for Animals', in 1978
'The Doris Day Pet Foundation' (now renamed to
'The Doris Day Animal Foundation'), in 1987
'The Doris Day Animal League' (which in 2006 merged with
'The Humane Society of the United States'), in 1995 she originated the
'Spay Day USA' and in 2011
'The Doris Day Horse Rescue and Adoption Centre' received a grant of US$250K from Doris Day although she had no direct involvement therein.
*
Carmine Caridi, born January 23rd 1934, and died May 28th 2019, aged 85. Caridi was an American film and television Actor with 104 acting credits to his name spanning five decades. His film career started in 1971 on
'The Anderson Tapes' and subsequently such fare as
'The Gambler' and
'The Godfather Part II' in 1974,
'Car Wash' in 1976,
'Brewster's Millions' in 1985,
'The Money Pit' in 1986,
'The Godfather Part III' and
'Havana' in 1990,
'Bugsy' in 1991,
'Ruby' in 1992 and he continued working right up until this year largely on short films, made for TV movies and television series including over the years
'Fame', 'NYPD Blue' and most recently on a single episode of
'Curb Your Enthusiasm'. Also of some notoriety, in January 2004, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it had identified a copy of the film
'Something's Gotta Give', that had been circulated illegally on the Internet, as carrying markings identifying it as having been sourced from a video (a 'screener') sent to Caridi in his role as an Oscar voter. Likewise unauthorised copies of
'Mystic River', 'Big Fish', 'The Last Samurai', and
'Master and Commander : The Far Side of the World' were also allegedly traced back to Caridi. The FBI subsequently began an investigation into the affair. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced in early February 2004 that it was expelling Caridi for violating his agreement to safeguard their screeners, making him the first Academy member to be expelled. He was subsequently cleared of any wrong doing.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.
'X-MEN : DARK PHOENIX' (Rated M) - yet another Superhero adaptation to grace our screens this year after the likes already of
'Shazam', 'Captain Marvel' and
'Avengers : Endgame', comes
this twelfth installment in the Marvel Comics
'X-Men' film series, a direct sequel to 2016's
'X-Men: Apocalypse' and the seventh and final installment in the main
'X-Men' series. This time Directed in his debut by Simon Kinberg who also Co-Produces and wrote the Screenplay based on Stan Lee's and Jack Kirby's original comic saga, this film cost US$200M to bring to the big screen. That said, the saga so far has amassed from the first eleven films in the franchise, a total global Box Office haul of US$5.8B off the back of combined production budgets of US$1.5B, making this franchise the seventh most commercially successful of all time. This film is released in the US this week too.
Starring an ensemble cast of our much loved X-Men mutant Superheroes and set some ten years after the events of
'X-Men : Apocalypse' in 1992, this is the story of one of the X-Men’s most beloved characters, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), as she transforms into the iconic Dark Phoenix. With the X-Men hailed as national heroes undertaking increasingly dangerous and risky missions, during a life-threatening rescue attempt in space, Jean is hit by a solar flare that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. Also starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jessica Chastain and Evan Peters.
'RED JOAN' (Rated M) - here we have a British spy drama film Directed by frequent theatre and occasional film Director Trevor Nunn based on the novel of the same name by Jennie Rooney which in turn gained its inspiration from the real life exploits of Melita Norwood, who worked at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association from 1937 as a secretary and supplied the Soviet Union's KGB with nuclear secrets for the following thirty years or so. In this adaptation, Sophie Cookson is the young Joan Stanley studying physics at Cambridge University. She became entangled with Communists and radical politics through her friend Sonya (Tereza Srbova) and Leo (Tom Hughes), a German Jew. Her story, which reaches as far back as the late '30's, is recalled in flashbacks as Joan in retirement age (played by Judi Dench) living the quiet life in the suburbs is placed under arrest and questioned by the Special Branch, which reveals that Joan was more concerned about 'leveling the playing field' in the post-WWII world rather than promoting Communism. The film received its World Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year, went on release in the UK in mid-April, has so far taken US$7M at the Box Office and has garnered generally average Reviews.
'AFTER' (Rated M) - this American romantic drama offering is Directed by Jenny Gage and based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Anna Todd, that has subsequently spawned a series of novels. Here Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) is a dedicated student, dutiful daughter and loyal girlfriend to her high school sweetheart Noah (Dylan Arnold). Entering her first semester of college, Tessa's guarded world opens up when she meets Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin), a mysterious and brooding rebel who makes her question all she thought she knew about herself, and what she really wants out of life. Also starring Selma Blair, Jennifer Beals and Peter Gallagher, the film was released Stateside in mid-April, was made for US$14M, has so far grossed US$67M, has received generally negative Press to date, and a sequel is already in the works.
'VITA & VIRGINIA' (Rated M) - here we have a British biographical romantic drama film Directed by Chanya Button and based on the 1992 play of the same name Written by Eileen Atkins who also Co-Wrote the Screenplay for this big screen adaptation. Set in the swinging 1920's the story here surrounds socialite Vita Sackville-West (Gemma Arterton) and literary icon Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki) who both run in different circles in the London of that era. When the two cross paths, the magnetic Vita decides the beguiling, stubborn and gifted Virginia will be her next conquest, no matter at what expense. Vita and Virginia forge an unconventional affair, set against the backdrop of their own strikingly contemporary marriages; an affair that inspires one of Virginia’s most iconic novels,
'Orlando'. The film saw its Worldwide Premier screening at TIFF last September, gets a limited release here in Australia this week, and not until early July in the UK and late August in the US. The film also stars Isabella Rossellini.
With four new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
