In December, 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 . . . . . Keiko Nobumoto, Antony Sher, Denis O'Brien, Martha De Laurentiis, Scott Page-Pagter, Cara Williams, Lina Wertmuller, Themsie Times, Larry Sellers, Michael Nesmith, Anne Rice, Kevin Billington, Bridget Hanley, Doug Robinson, Sally Ann Howes, Nicholas Georgiade, Jaime Comas, Richard Conway, Harvey Evans, Jean-Marc Vallee, Renato Scarpa and Betty White.
* Keiko Nobumoto - born 13th March 1964 and died 1st December 2021, aged 57. Nobumoto was a Japanese screenwriter who wrote the scripts and screenplays for nineteen TV series, made for television movies and videos during her career which launched in 1990 on two episodes of
'Tales of the Bizarre'. Her first big screen writing credit came in 1991 in the live action feature film
'World Apartment Horror' and then the animated
'Free, Whale Peak' that same year. She would follow this up with the TV mini-series
'Macross Plus' in 1994, but perhaps her best known work was on twenty-six episodes of the classic Japanese anime
'Cowboy Bebop' in 1998 and 1999, and thirty episodes of
'Wolf's Rain' which she created from her own manga. In the years in between and since there was also
'Cowboy Bebop : The Movie' in 2001,
'Tokyo Godfathers' in 2003, the video
'Wolf's Rain OVA' in 2004, then four episodes of
'Space Dandy' in 2014 and her last screen writing credit came in 2019 with a single episode of
'Carole & Tuesday'.
* Antony Sher - born 14th June 1949 and died 2nd December 2021, aged 72. Sher was a British Actor, born in South Africa who became a British citizen in 1979. He accumulated fifty-eight screen acting credits throughout his career and numerous theatre credits for amongst others The Royal Shakespeare Company. He gained his first screen acting role in two episodes of
'2nd House' in 1973 and 1974 with his first big screen role coming in 1979's
'Yanks' with Richard Gere and Vanessa Redgrave, and he would follow this up with the likes of
'Superman II' in 1980 with Christopher Reeve,
'Shadey' in 1985,
'Erik the Viking' in 1989 with Tim Robbins and John Cleese,
'Genghis Cohn' in 1993 with Robert Lindsay and Diana Rigg,
'Mrs. Brown' in 1997 with Billy Connolly and Judi Dench,
'Shakespeare in Love' in 1998 with Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes,
'Churchill : The Hollywood Years' in 2004 with Christian Slater,
'The Wolfman' in 2010 with Benicio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins,
'War Book' and
'The Royal Shakespeare Company : Henry IV Parts 1 and 2' in 2014,
'The Royal Shakespeare Company : King Lear' in 2016 with the made for TV movie
'Joe Orton Laid Bare' in 2017 being his final screen credit. Sher was awarded Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama, and following nineteen years together, registered his civil partnership with long-term partner and theatre Director Gregory Doran in December 2005, as soon as civil unions became legal in England and Wales, and they married ten years later in December 2015. For his stage and screen work Sher garnered seven award wins including two Laurence Olivier Award wins and four other nominations. He was reportedly Prince Charles favourite Actor.
* Denis O'Brien - born 12th September 1941 and died 3rd December 2021, aged 80. O'Brien was an American attorney and film Producer, best known as the Business Manager for George Harrison of The Beatles fame and Co-Founder, together with Harrison of the film production company HandMade Films in 1978 to finance
'Monty Python's Life of Brian' film - its first feature film. Following the success of this first venture into film production, O'Brien went on to Executive Produce the likes of
'The Long Good Friday' in 1980 with Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren,
'Time Bandits' in 1981 with Sean Connery and John Cleese,
'The Missionary' in 1982 with Michael Palin and Maggie Smith,
'A Private Function' in 1984 with Michael Palin and Maggie Smith again,
'Mona Lisa' in 1986 with Bob Hoskins and Michael Caine,
'Withnail & I' in 1987 with Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann,
'The Raggedy Rawney' for and with Bob Hoskins in 1988,
'How to Get Ahead in Advertising' in 1989 with Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward with
'Nuns on the Run' in 1990 with Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle and
'Cold Dog Soup' that same year with Randy Quaid being his final film credit as Producer. Hand Made Films ended movie production in 1991 and was sold off to the Canadian corporate Paragon Entertainment in 1994.
* Martha De Laurentiis - born 10th July 1954 and died 4th December 2021, aged 67. De Laurentiis was the wife of the Italian American prolific film Producer Dino De Laurentiis and they were married from 1990 until the time of his death in 2010. Martha was also an American film Producer who notched up twenty-four screen production credits during her career which launched in 1984 with the Stephen King novel adaptation
'Firestarter' with Drew Barrymore and Martin Sheen. She would follow this up with another Stephen King adaptation in 1985 with
'Cat's Eye' with Drew Barrymore again and James Woods, and then the likes of
'Raw Deal' in 1986 with Arnold Schwarzenegger,
'Desperate Hours' in 1990 with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins,
'Unforgettable' in 1996 with Ray Liotta,
'Breakdown' in 1997 with Kurt Russell,
'U-571' in 2000 with Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Harvey Keitel,
'Hannibal' in 2001 and
'Red Dragon' in 2002 both with Anthony Hopkins portraying the eponymous Hannibal 'the Cannibal' Lecter,
'The Last Legion' in 2007 with Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley and
'Arctic' in 2018 with Mads Mikkelsen before her final feature film
'Firestarter' currently in post-production and due for release in 2022 with Zac Efron. In the meantime, she also Executive Produced all thirty-nine episodes of
'Hannibal' the TV series with Mads Mikkelsen in the title role.
* Scott Page-Pagter - born 13th June 1957 and died 5th December 2021, aged 64. Page-Pagter was an American voice Actor and TV Producer, Composer, Writer and Sound Effects Editor. He was a supervising Producer on the long-running
'Power Rangers' TV series from its third season of
'Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers'. He was eventually promoted to Co-Producer in its sixth season,
'Power Rangers in Space', and continued his work on the series until the 10th season,
'Power Rangers : Wild Force' concluded. In that eight-year tenure he provided voice-work for various characters throughout these series, although he is probably best known as the voice of the villain Porto in
'Power Rangers : Turbo', and he also voiced a number of monsters over the years. He also Produced
'VR Troopers', 'Masked Rider' and
'Big Bad Beetleborgs', voicing monsters in each of them. He helped to make
'The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog', and was an avid composer, writing for many TV shows including
'Modern Marvels' and
'The World's Greatest Magic' series. Later in his career, he worked on animated projects for Mattel until 2018 and Directed projects for Netflix and Bang Zoom! Entertainment. In the mid-nineties, he began making wine as a hobby, which he turned into a commercial operation in 2013 and later opened a tasting room with his brother, in Santa Clarita, California.
* Cara Williams - born
Bernice Kamiat on 29th June 1925 and died 9th December 2021, aged 96. Williams was an American Actress who at the time of her death was one of the last surviving Actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. During her career Williams accumulated fifty-five screen acting credits which kicked off in 1941 with the feature film
'Wide Open Town' which she would follow up with the likes of
'Boomerang' in 1947 for Elia Kazan with Lee J. Cobb,
'The Defiant Ones' in 1958 with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier,
'Never Steal Anything Small' with James Cagney in 1959,
'The Man from the Diners' Club' in 1963 with Danny Kaye,
'Doctors Wives' in 1971 with Gene Hackman,
'The White Buffalo' in 1977 with Charles Bronson,
'The One Man Jury' in 1978 with Jack Palance with the made for TV movie '
In Security' in 1982 being her final screen role after which she officially retired. In the intervening years there were also TV shows including
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents', on seventy-two episodes of
'Pete and Gladys', on thirty of her own
'The Cara Williams Show', 'Rhoda', 'Medical Centre' and
'Visions'. Williams was nominated for both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for her role in
'The Defiant Ones'. Williams was married for the third time in 1964 to a Beverly Hills real estate agent until his death in 2018, and following her retirement from acting later displayed a strong business acumen in interior designing and as a championship poker player.
* Lina Wertmuller - born
Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich on 14th August 1928 and died 9th December 2021, aged 93. Wertmuller was an Italian film Director and Screenwriter who notched up thirty-seven screenwriting credits and thirty-three as Director with her feature film debut coming in 1963's
'The Basilisks'. She would follow this up with the likes of
'Rita the Mosquito' in 1966,
'Don't Sting the Mosquito' in 1967,
'Swept Away' in 1974,
'A Night Full of Rain' in 1978 with Candice Bergen,
'Blood Feud' that same year with Sophia Loren,
'Camorra (A Story of Streets, Women and Crime)' in 1985 with Harvey Keitel,
'Up to Date' in 1989 with Rutger Hauer and Nastassja Kinski,
'Too Much Romance . . . It's Time for Stuffed Peppers' in 2004 with Sophia Loren and F. Murray Abraham with the TV movie
'Carmen' in 2010 being her final film role with a short forty minute documentary film about the Composer Gioachino Rossini in 2014 being her last directorial outing. Wertmuller became the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for
'Seven Beauties' in 1977, and in 2019 she was announced as one of four recipients of the Academy Honorary Award for her career, being only the second female Director to be so honoured.
* Themsie Times - born 22nd September 1949 and died 9th December 2021, aged 72. Times was a South African Actress who accumulated just fifteen screen acting roles in a career spanning from 1981 right up until 2021. She got her first screen acting gig on the TV series
'Oh George!' in 1981 with her first feature film role coming in 1986 in
'Kampus : 'n Varsity-Storie'. Her other big screen appearances included
'An African Dream' in 1988,
'African Express' in 1990,
'Cry, the Beloved Country' in 1995 with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris,
'Dangerous Ground' in 1997 with Ice Cube and Elizabeth Hurley,
'Stander' in 2003 with Thomas Jane and Dexter Fletcher with
'Actually Quite a Lot' in 2016 being her final film role. Since then she appeared in the TV mini-series
'Shadow' in 2019 and in 2021 in two episodes of the TV series
'Dark Places' being her final screen role.
* Larry Sellers - born 2nd October 1949 and died 9th December 2021, aged 72. Sellers was a native American Actor and stuntman of the Osage Nation who clicked up twenty screen acting credits during his career which launched in 1985 in the feature film
'Agent on Ice' (on which he also took a stunt coordinator/stuntman credit)
which he followed up that same year with
'Revolution' with Al Pacino, Donald Sutherland and Nastassja Kinski.
'Assassination' followed in 1987 with Charles Bronson, then the likes of
'Like Father Like Son' in 1987 too with Dudley Moore,
'Wayne's World 2' in 1993 with Mike Myers and Dana Carve,
'Lightning Jack' in 1994 with Paul Hogan with an uncredited role in 2007's
'Four Sheets to the Wind' being his last screen appearance. In the meantime, there were also roles on made for TV movies and TV series including
'Crime Story', 'Life Goes On', 'Walker : Texas Ranger', 'Beverly Hills, 90210', and then perhaps his best known role as Cloud Dancing on seventy-four episodes of
'Dr. Quinn : Medicine Woman' (for which he also took a credit on 114 episodes as the Native American Consultant). His last TV role was on a single episode of
'The Sopranos' in 2002. Sellers also presided over a non-profit organisation for the preservation of the Osage language, and, from 2004, operated the Missionary Society for the Preservation of Traditional Values which aims to uphold and/or revive spiritual values and heritage.
* Michael Nesmith - born 30th December 1942 and died 10th December 2021, aged 78. Nesmith was an American musician, songwriter, Actor, Producer, and novelist. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band 'the Monkees' and co-star of the TV series
'The Monkees'. Nesmith founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, in 1974, through which he helped pioneer the music video format. He created one of the first American television programmes dedicated to music videos,
'PopClips', which aired in 1980. In 1981, he won the first Grammy Award for Video of the Year for his hour-long television show,
'Elephant Parts'. He was also an Executive Producer of the 1984 film
'Repo Man', the 1987 film
'Square Dance' with Jason Robards, Winona Ryder and Rob Lowe and
'Tapeheads' in 1988 with Tim Robbins and John Cusack. His acting credits of which there were fifteen were sporadic over the years that followed his appearances on fifty-seven episodes of
'The Monkees' between 1966 and 1968, including the feature film
'Head' in 1968,
'Timerider : The Adventure of Lyle Swann' in 1982 with Fred Ward,
'Burgler' in 1987 with Whoopi Goldberg, the aforementioned
'Tapeheads', the TV movie retrospective
'Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees' in 1997 which he also Directed and wrote, and a single episode of
'Portlandia' in 2014 being his last screen role. In 1998 he published his first novel,
'The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora', in 2009 he published his second novel,
'The America Gene' and in 2017 he published
'Infinite Tuesday : An Autobiographical Riff'.
* Anne Rice - born
Howard Allen Frances O'Brien on 4th October 1941 and died 11th December 2021, aged 80. Rice was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels
'The Vampire Chronicles'. Books from series were the subject of two film adaptations -
'Interview with the Vampire' in 1994 with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst and 2002's
'Queen of the Damned' with Stuart Townsend. Her other film and TV credits as Writer include
'Exit to Eden' in 1994 with Dan Aykroyd and Rosie O'Donnell, then the TV movies
'Rag and Bone' in 1998 with Jason Patrick and Dean Cain,
'The Feast of All Saints' in 2001 with Peter Gallagher and James Earl Jones, and
'Earth Angels' that same year,
'The Young Messiah' in 2016 with the TV series
'Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches' in pre-production at the time of her passing. She also Executive Produced
'Rag and Bone', 'The Feast of All Saints' and
'Earth Angels'.
* Kevin Billington - born 12th June 1934 and died 13th December 2021, aged 87. Billington was a British Director of film, TV and theatre. His early career began with the BBC as a radio producer in Leeds and then for television in Manchester, before working on the early evening
'Tonight' show and on documentaries for the BBC and Associated Television until 1967. He began his screen career Directing the doco's
'Whicker : Down Mexico Way' in 1963, then
'Mary McCarthy's Paris' in 1964 and
'A Few Castles in Spain' in 1966 with his feature film debut coming in 1968's
'Interlude' with Donald Sutherland, John Cleese and Virginia Maskell. He followed this up with other films including
'The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer' with Peter Cook and John Cleese in 1970 (for which he also wrote the screenplay),
'The Light at the Edge of the World' in 1971 with Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner,
'Voices' in 1973 with David Hemmings and Gayle Hunnicutt and
'Reflections' in 1984 with Gabriel Byrne being his final film. His last Directing credit came with the TV mini-series
'A Time to Dance' in 1992.
* Bridget Hanley - born 3rd February 1941 and died 15th December 2021, aged 80. Hanley was an American Actress of film, TV and theatre who accumulated forty-four screen acting credits throughout her career which began in 1965 on a single episode of
'Hank'. Over the years that followed she would appear mostly in episodes of TV shows taking in the likes of
'Bewitched', 'I Dream of Jeannie', then on fifty-two episodes of
'Here Come the Brides' between 1968 and 1970, then
'The Odd Couple', 'Love, American Style', 'Welcome Back, Kotter', 'Emergency!', 'CHiPs', on thirty episodes of
'Harper Valley P.T.A.' between 1981 and 1982,
'Jake and the Fatman', 'Simon & Simon', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'Columbo', with her 1996 appearance on
'Kung Fu : The Legend Continues' being her final screen role. Hanley was also an active performer at Theatre West, an internationally acclaimed non-profit arts organisation in Hollywood, California. Established in 1962, Theatre West is the oldest continually running theatre company in Los Angeles. She also starred in the one-woman play
'May Day Sermon' based on the poem by Poet Laureate James Dickey, author of
'Deliverance' which was made into a cult classic film in 1972 starring Burt Reynolds. Hanley was also a guest lecturer and performer at Radford University, Virginia.
* Doug Robinson - born 8th February 1930 and died 16th December 2021, aged 91. Robinson was a British stuntman and Actor who accumulated forty-four screen acting credits and fifty-four as a stuntman. His screen acting credits went to a large degree uncredited, as did many of his earlier stunt jobs, including on
'Ben-Hur' in 1959, and many of Sean Connery and Roger Moore James Bond films from
'You Only Live Twice' in 1967 onwards. It wasn't until 1979 that he received a credit for his work on the feature film
'Zulu Dawn' that his work gained big screen recognition. He would follow this up with credited stuntwork on the likes of
'An American Werewolf in London' in 1981,
'Victor Victoria' in 1982,
'The Keep', 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' in 1984,
'A View to a Kill' in 1985,
'The Living Daylights' in 1987,
'Willow' in 1988,
'Batman' in 1989,
'Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves' in 1991 with
'Son of the Pink Panther' in 1993 being his final stunt performance.
* Sally Ann Howes - born 20th July 1930 and died 19th December 2021, aged 91. Howes was an English Actress and Singer who accumulated forty screen acting credits in a career spanning six decades and which began in the 1943 feature film
'Thursday's Child' in which she had top billing. She would follow this up with the likes of
'Anna Karenina' in 1948 with Vivien Leigh and Ralph Richardson,
'Stop Press Girl' in 1949 with Gordon Jackson,
'Paradise Lagoon' in 1957 with Kenneth More,
'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' in 1968 with Dick Van Dyke and Lionel Jeffries with
'Death Ship' in 1980 with George Kennedy and Richard Crenna being her final feature film role. In the meantime and the years since, there were made for TV movies such as
'Cinderella', 'Paint Your Wagon', 'Jane Eyre', 'Brigadoon', 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', and TV series including
'Journey Into Fear', 'Mission : Impossible', 'The Virginian', and
'Secrets' in 1992 being her last screen appearance. She would also star in numerous stage productions over her career including in
'Paint Your Wagon', 'Babes in the Wood', 'My Fair Lady', 'Brigadoon', 'Camelot', 'The Sound of Music', 'The King & I', 'Hamlet', 'The Merry Widow' and
'Cinderella'. In 1963, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in
'Brigadoon'. Howes was invited to sing for three US Presidents - Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
* Nicholas Georgiade - born 25th March 1933, died 19th December 2021, aged 88. Georgiade was an American Actor of film and TV who notched up forty-five screen acting roles in a career which kick started in a single episode of TV series
'State Trooper' in 1956 with perhaps his best known role coming in 113 episodes of
'The Untouchables' between 1959 and 1963. His other TV appearances would come with the likes of
'The Doctors and the Nurses', 'Daniel Boone', 'Batman', 'Mannix', 'Get Smart', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'Mission : Impossible', 'The Rockford Files', 'Kojak', 'Vega$', 'The Equalizer' and
'Lucky Chances'. His big screen roles began with an uncredited appearance in
'It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World' in 1963, then '
The Young Runaways' in 1968,
'Stacey' in 1973,
'Seven' in 1979,
'Indecent Proposal' in 1993 with Robert Redford and Demi Moore with
'Three Days to Vegas' in 2007 with Rip Torn, Peter Falk and George Segal being his final screen role.
* Jaime Comas - born Jaime Comas Gil sometime in 1936 and died 21st December 2021, aged 85. Comas was a Spanish screenwriter and film Producer who accumulated twelve screen writing credits and ten as Producer during his career which kicked off with his co-writing credit on the Clint Eastwood classic spaghetti western 'A Fistful of Dollars' Directed by Sergio Leone in 1964. From here he would go onto write or co-write the screenplays for 'The Glass Sphinx' in 1967 with Robert Taylor and Anita Ekberg, 'The Shark Hunter' in 1979 with Franco Nero, with 'Panic', 'Adam and Eve' and 'A Man Called Rage' all coming in the first half of the 1980's, with the latter being his final screenplay in 1984. In terms of his Producer credits, he launched in 1963 with 'Sandokan the Great' starring Steve Reeves, and he would go on to Produce the aforementioned 'The Shark Hunter', 'A Man Called Rage' as well as 'Iguana' in 1988 with Michael Madsen, 'Outrage' in 1993 with Antonio Banderas, 'The Sea Change' in 1998 with Maryam d'Abo and Ray Winstone and 'One Man's Hero' in 1999 with Tom Berenger.
* Richard Conway - born 15th January 1942 and died 22nd December 2021, aged 79. Conway was an English film and television special effects artist who amassed sixty-one special effects credits to his name during a seven decade spanning career which began as a visual effects assistant on the TV series
'Thunderbirds Are GO'. From there his special effects credits took in the likes of feature films including his debut
'Captain Nemo and the Underwater City' in 1969, then
'Tarka the Otter' in 1979,
'Conan the Barbarian' in 1982,
'Monty Python's The Meaning of Life' in 1983,
'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' in 1984,
'Brazil' in 1985,
'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' in 1988,
'Memphis Belle' in 1990,
'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein' in 1994,
'The English Patient' in 1996,
'The Talented Mr. Ripley' in 1999,
'28 Days Later . . . ' in 2002,
'Johnny English' and
'Love Actually' both in 2003,
'Sunshine' and
'28 Weeks Later' both in 2007,
'The Boat That Rocked' and
'Harry Brown' both in 2009, '
Attack the Block' in 2011,
'Dredd' in 2012,
'Trance' in 2013,
'Ex Machina' in 2014, with
'The Lovers', 'Containment' and
'Urban Hymn' all coming in 2015 which would be his final special effects credits. He also worked on twenty-four episodes of
'Doctor Who' from 1973 through 1978 and on the TV mini-series of
'The Odyssey', 'Merlin', 'Jason and the Argonauts', 'Dancing on the Edge', 'Fleming' and
'Babylon'. Conway was nominated for the Oscar and the BAFTA Awards for
'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen', won the BAFTA for
'Brazil' and won two other awards and a further three nominations.
* Harvey Evans - born
Harvey Hohnecker on 7th January 1941 and died 24th December 2021, aged 80. Evans was an American Actor of film, theatre and the occasional TV appearance who notched up just seventeen screen acting roles during his career which began with a string of uncredited roles during the 1950's in feature films taking in
'Reunion in Reno', 'Silk Stockings', 'The Pajama Game', and
'The Girl Most Likely'. His first credited big screen role came in 1961's
'West Side Story', a film he would appear in again in 2021 in Steven Spielberg's remake of the same name. He would also appear in an uncredited role in 1964's
'Mary Poppins' then
'The Bank Shot' in 1974 with George C. Scott,
'Ravagers' in 1979 with Richard Harris and Ernest Borgnine,
'Enchanted' in 2007 with Amy Adams and Susan Sarandon with
'Silver Tongues' in 2011 and the aforementioned
'West Side Story' in 2021 being his final screen roles. He also appeared in the original Broadway stage production of
'West Side Story' in 1957 and other Broadway shows including
'Gypsy', 'Hello, Dolly!', 'The Boy Friend', 'Follies', 'Sunset Boulevard', 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' and
'Oklahoma!'
* Jean-Marc Vallee - born 9th March 1963 and died 26th December 2021, aged 58. Vallee was a Canadian film and television Director, Producer, Editor and Screenwriter who amassed ten production credits, twenty-one as Director, thirteen for editing and eight for writing. His first foray into writing, editing and directing came with a string of music video's in 1985, before his first short film in 1992 with
'Stereotypes'. His debut feature film came with
'Liste noire' in 1995, then
'Los Locos' in 1997 with Mario Van Peebles, Rene Auberjonois and Danny Trejo, and perhaps his breakout feature film in 2005 with
'C.R.A.Z.Y.' which earned Vallee international recognition and thirty-eight award wins and another eight nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, including eleven Genie Award wins. He would follow this up with
'The Young Victoria' in 2009 starring Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent and Mark Strong which picked up thirteen award wins and seventeen nomination including an Oscar win and two other nods plus two BAFTA wins. After
'Cafe de Flore' in 2011, he Directed and Edited
'Dallas Buyers Club' in 2013 with Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner which went onto win eighty-four awards and a further eighty-seven nominations including three Oscar wins and three nods amongst its total haul. In 2014 he Directed and Edited Reece Witherspoon and Laura Dern in
'Wild' which garnered thirteen award wins and sixty-nine nominations including numerous wins and nods for the two leading ladies. 2015 saw
'Demolition' with Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper and then he Directed seven episodes of the highly acclaimed TV series
'Big Little Lies' in 2017 which all up accumulated fifty-five award wins and another ninety-nine nominations over its two seasons of fourteen episodes in total, on which he also served as Executive Producer and Editor across both seasons. His final Directorial gig came with the mini-series
'Sharp Objects' on which he helmed and edited all eight episodes in 2018. All up, during his relatively short career, Vallee garnered thirty-one award wins and another thirty-six nominations. In 2020, Vallee was made an Officer in the National Order of Quebec.
* Renato Scarpa - was born 14th September 1939 and died 30th December 2021, aged 82. Scarpa was an Italian Actor who amassed 163 screen acting credits to his name over a career spanning from 1968 right up until the present day. He got his first TV break in the mini-series
'Il poverello' in 1968 and he would follow this up with his debut feature film role in 1969 in
'Under the Sign of Scorpio'. Over the years that followed he would also take roles in the likes of
'Don't Look Now' in 1973 with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie,
'Suspiria' in 1977 for Director Dario Argento,
'Julia and Julia' in 1987 with Kathleen Turner, Gabriel Byrne and Sting,
'The Postman' in 1994 with Philippe Noiret,
'Roseanna's Grave' in 1997 with Jean Reno,
'The Talented Mr. Ripley' in 1999 with Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow,
'The Tourist' in 2010 with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie,
'Tale of Tales' in 2015 with Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and Toby Jones,
'The Two Popes' in 2019 with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce with
'After the War' in pre-production at the time of his passing. In the meantime, there were also roles on TV series and mini-series including
'A.D.' with Anthony Andrews, Ava Gardner, Ian McShane and Susan Sarandon,
'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles', 'Abraham' with Richard Harris, Barbara Hershey and Maximilian Schell,
'We Are Angels' with Bud Spencer and Philip Michael Thomas, and
'The Count of Monte Cristo' with Gerard Depardieu.
* Betty White - born
Betty Marion White Ludden on 17th January 1922, and died 31st December 2021, aged 99. White was an American Actress and comedian of film and television who amassed 121 screen acting credits throughout her eight decade spanning career which launched with the twenty-three minute short film
'Time to Kill' in 1945. She then went onto star in her own show
'Life with Elizabeth' over forty episodes which ran from 1952 until 1955 with her first big screen role coming in 1962's Otto Preminger Directed
'Advise & Consent' with Henry Fonda. It wouldn't be until 1998 that she next appeared in a feature film in
'Hard Rain' with Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman and that same year she also appeared in
'Holy Man' with Eddie Murphy and Jeff Goldblum, and then
'Lake Placid' in 1999 with Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman and Brendan Gleeson and
'The Story of Us' also in 1999 with Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer.
'Bringing Down the House' in 2003 followed with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, and she would lend her voice to the English version of the Japanese animated film
'Ponyo' in 2008.
'The Proposal' in 2009 came next with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds,
'You Again' in 2010 with Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Kristen Bell, and she would lend her voice talents again to
'The Lorax' in 2012 and both
'Toy Story 4' and
'Trouble' in 2019. She would star in numerous TV series, mini-series and made for TV movies with the most notable being on thirty-three episodes of
'Date with the Angels' between 1957 and '58, on forty-five of
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' between 1973 and 1977, on fourteen of
'The Betty White Show' between 1977 and 1978, on 177 of
'The Golden Girls' from 1985 until 1992 and then on twenty-four of
'The Golden Place' between 1992 and 1993, on sixteen of
'Boston Legal', on twenty-three of
'The Bold and the Beautiful', on 124 episodes of
'Hot in Cleveland' between 2010 and 2015 with the likes of
'Fame', 'Hotel', 'St. Elsewhere', 'The Love Boat', 'Ally McBeal', 'That '70's Show', 'The Practice', 'Malcolm in the Middle', 'Family Guy', 'The Simpsons', 'Ugly Betty' and
'Bones' in the meantime. After making the transition to television from radio, White became a staple panelist of American game shows, including
'Password', 'Match Game', 'Tattletales', 'To Tell the Truth', 'The Hollywood Squares', and
'The $25,000 Pyramid'. As a consequence she was dubbed 'the first lady of game shows', White became the first woman to receive the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host for the show
'Just Men!' in 1983. White worked longer in television than anyone else in that medium, earning her a Guinness World Record in 2018. She was the recipient of eight Emmy Award wins and a further seventeen nominations in various categories, three American Comedy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Grammy Award amongst her total haul of thirty-nine award wins and forty other nominations. White was a pet enthusiast and animal welfare advocate, who worked with organisations including the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, The Morris Animal Foundation, African Wildlife Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals. White also published several books during her career from 1983's
'Betty White's Pet Love : How Pets Take Care of Us' through to her most recent in 2011
'If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't)' and
'Betty & Friends : My Life at the Zoo'. In 2017 after 70 years, White was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At age 95, this made her the oldest new member at the time. White died just seventeen days before her 100th birthday.
Twenty-two 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 many 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, and now the Omicron variant continues to tighten its grip around the world. Thankfully, restrictions are now being eased here in Australia after some six hundred days of lockdowns. However, we should all continue to be cautious by remembering 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 and a booster jab - together we can all beat this thing. Stay safe, remain healthy and wherever you are in the world, if you're in lock down, 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-
