In November, 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 . . . . . Douglas McGrath, David Davis, Bill Treacher, Leslie Phillips, Tom Owen, Kevin Conroy, Sven-Bertil Taube, John Aniston, David English, Robert Clary, Nicki Aycox, James Winburn, Jason David Frank, Mickey Kuhn, Gray Frederickson, Irene Cara, Freddie Roman, Clarence Gilyard, Brad William Henke and Derek Granger.
* Douglas McGrath - born 2nd February 1958 and died 3rd November 2022, aged 64. McGrath was an American Screenwriter, Director and Actor who garnered eighteen credits as an Actor, twelve as a Writer and eight as Director, which began with his writing credit on thirteen episodes of
'Saturday Night Live' between 1980 and 1981. His feature film writing credits took in the likes of
'Born Yesterday', Woody Allen's
'Bullets Over Broadway' in 1994 for which he shared nominations with Woody Allen in the Academy Awards, the BAFTA's and the Writers Guild of America Awards; then
'Emma' which he also Directed with Gwyneth Paltrow,
'Company Man' in 2000 which he also Directed and stars in,
'Nicholas Nickleby' in 2002 which again he also Directs,
'Infamous' in 2006 which he Directs too. His other Directorial offerings also take in
'I Don't Know How She Does It' in 2011 and the 2016 documentary
'Becoming Mike Nichols'. His acting roles included
'Quiz Show' in 1994 with Robert Redford, then
'Celebrity' in 1998,
'Sweet and Lowdown' in 1999,
'Small Time Crooks' in 2000,
'Hollywood Ending' in 2002,
'Cafe Society' in 2016 and
'Rifkin's Festival' in 2020 with these six latter films all for Woody Allen, with
'The Insider', 'Michael Clayton' and
'Solitary Man' in the meantime. He also made appearances in television including a recurring role in the HBO series
'Girl's' from 2015 to 2016, in the Amazon Prime comedy series
'Crisis in Six Scenes' in 2016 and the Netflix western limited series
'Godless' in 2017. At the time of his death, McGrath was starring in the Off Broadway solo show he'd written,
'Everything's Fine', an autobiographical play Directed by John Lithgow.
* David Davis - born 5th August 1936 and died 4th November 2022, aged 86. Davis was an American Writer and Producer of television programmes who began his career as Associate Producer on twelve episodes of
'O.K. Crackerby!' in 1965. From there he would go on to Produce multiple episodes of the likes of
'My Mother the Car', 'He & She', 'The Good Guys', 'Get Smart', 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'The Bob Newhart Show', 'Rhoda' and
'Taxi' with the latter four shows on which he was also credited as Creator and/or Writer. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for his work on
'Taxi' and was nominated another five times for his work on
'Rhoda' and
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'.
* Bill Treacher - born
William Charles Treacher on 4th June 1930 and died 5th November 2022, aged 92. Treacher was an English Actor of stage, television, cinema and radio who notched up seventy-five screen acting roles throughout his career which spanned six decades and which launched in 1960 on two episodes of the TV series
'Paul of Tarsus'. His first feature film came in 1984 in
'Pop Pirates' followed by
'Tale of the Mummy' in 1998 with Jason Scott Lee, Sean Pertwee, Gerard Butler, Christopher Lee and Honor Blackman, then
'The Musketeer' in 2001 with Catherine Deneuve, Tim Roth, Stephen Rea and Justin Chambers,
'Diggity's Treasure' also in 2001 with Andrew McCarthy with
'George and the Dragon' in 2004 with James Purefoy, Patrick Swayze, Michael Clarke Duncan and Piper Perabo being his final film credit. In the intervening years there were many appearances on TV shows taking in the likes of
'Dad's Army', 'Z Cars', 'The Tomorrow People', on fifteen episodes of
'Dixon of Dock Green', 'The Sweeney', 'Grange Hill', 'The Professionals', 'The Enigma Files', 'Bergerac', 'Minder' and then on perhaps his most well known role as Arthur Fowler on the BBC's
'EastEnders' for 1,062 episodes between 1985 and 1996. Following this there were episodes on
'The Bill', 'Casualty' and finally the made for TV movie
'Coming Home' in 2009 being his final screen credit. Treacher died from COVID-19 and pneumonia.
* Leslie Phillips - born 20th April 1924 and died 7th November 2022, aged 98. Phillips was an English Actor, one time Director and three time Producer who amassed 173 screen acting credits during his career which began with an uncredited role in the 1938 film
'Lassie from Lancashire' and would last the following eight decades right up until his final screen acting role in 2012 in
'After Death'. Between 1938 and 1948 he would have uncredited bit parts in ten feature films including
'The Mikado', 'The Four Feathers', 'The Thief of Bagdad', 'Anna Karenina' and
'The Red Shoes'. From 1950 onwards he began to gain more credited work on feature films taking in the likes of
'Les Girls' in 1957 with Gene Kelly and then the first of four
'Carry On' films, those being
'Carry on Nurse' in 1959,
'Carry on Teacher' also in 1959,
'Carry on Constable' in 1960 and
'Carry on Columbus' in 1992. His other more notable big screen works included
'The Longest Day' in 1962 with John Wayne and Richard Burton,
'Out of Africa' in 1985 with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford,
'Empire of the Sun' in 1987 with Christian Bale and John Malkovich and for Steven Spielberg,
'Scandal' in 1989 with John Hurt and Joanne Whalley,
'Mountains of the Moon' in 1990 with Patrick Bergin and Iain Glen,
'King Ralph' in 1991 with John Goodman,
'The Jackal' in 1997 with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere,
'Lara Croft : Tomb Raider' in 2001 with Angelina Jolie,
'Color Me Kubrick' in 2005 with John Malkovich,
'Venus' in 2006 with Peter O'Toole and
'Late Bloomers' in 2011 with William Hurt and Isabella Rossellini. In the meantime he also lent his voice talents to The Sorting Hat in three
'Harry Potter' films - those being
'. . . and the Sorceror's Stone' in 2001,
'. . . and the Chamber of Secrets' in 2002, and
' . . . and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' in 2011. In the intervening years there were also single and multiple episodes of TV series including
'Foreign Affairs', 'The Culture Vultures', 'Casanova '73', 'Chancer', 'Lovejoy', 'The House of Windsor', 'The Bill', 'Holby City', 'Revolver', and
'Heartbeat'. Phillips was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1998 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama, and in 2008 he was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to drama.
* Tom Owen - born
Thomas William Stevenson Robotham on 8th April 1949 and died 8th November 2022, aged 73. Owen was an British Actor of TV, film and theatre who garnered twenty-nine screen acting roles during his career which kicked off in 1969 in the feature film
'Goodbye, Mr. Chips' with Peter O'Toole which he would follow up with roles in other films including
'Unman, Wittering and Zigo' in 1971 with David Hemmings,
'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' in 2018 with Jessica Brown Findlay and Tom Courtenay and
'The Bromley Boys' also that same year with Alan Davies being his final film appearance. In the intervening years there were also appearances on TV series taking in the likes of fifty-two episodes on
'Freewheelers', thirteen on
'Tottering Towers', 'Upstairs Downstairs', 'The Onedin Line', 'Hawkmoor', 'The Bill', 'Minder', and then on perhaps his best known screen role as Tom Simmonite in ninety-three episodes of
'Last of the Summer Wine' between 1991 and 2010, with
'Small Town Politics' in 2019 being his last screen role. He was the son of Actor Bill Owen (who died in 1999 at the age of 85), who played William 'Compo' Simmonite (the father of Tom Simmonite) in
'Last of the Summer Wine' for twenty-six years. Owen also starred in the Broadway production of
'London Assurance', the West End production of
'Lulu' plus more than twenty pantomimes.
* Kevin Conroy - born 30th November 1955 and died 10th November 2022, aged 66. Conroy was an American Actor who accumulated 111 screen acting roles throughout his career which launched in 1978 on the TV movie
'How to Pick Up Girls!' with only two live action feature films to his credit, those being
'Chain of Desire' in 1992 with Linda Fiorentino, and
'Yoga Hosers' in 2016 with Lily Rose Depp, Johnny Depp and Austin Butler. Earlier on in his career he would have roles on TV series and mini-series including on seventeen episodes of
'Another World', on
'Kennedy', on seventy-nine of
'Search for Tomorrow', 'Dynasty', on eleven of
'Ohara', on twelve of
'Tour of Duty', 'Cheers', on six of
'The Office' and then a long list of his voice work as Batman on numerous animated TV series and video games which began in 1993 in
'Batman : Mask of the Phantasm'. Over the ensuing years were also included
'Batman : The Animated Series' over eighty-five episodes,
'The New Batman Adventures', 'Superman : The Animated Series', 'Batman Beyond : Return of the Joker', on forty-eight episodes of
'Batman : Beyond', on thirty-seven of
'Justice League', 'Batman : The Killing Joke', 'Batman and Harley Quinn', on forty-two of
'Justice League Action', 'Justice League vs the Fatal Five' and
'Batman : Caped Crusader' currently filming and set for a 2023 release. Conroy portrayed Bruce Wayne of Earth-99 in live-action in the
'Batwoman' episode of Arrowverse crossover
'Crisis on Infinite Earths' in 2019. This was his only live-action portrayal of the character in over 25 years of portraying the character. All up Conroy won seven awards and another seven nominations for his Batman voice work including six Behind the Voice Actors Award wins.
* Sven-Bertil Taube - born 24th November 1934 and died 11th November 2022, aged 87. Taube was a Swedish Actor and Singer of film and TV who accumulated fifty-three screen acting credits during his career which kicked off in 1964 with his voice on the feature film
'To Love'. He would gain his first top billing role a year later in
'Guilt' with his first English language role coming in 1970's
'The Buttercup Chain' with Hywel Bennett, then the Alistair MacLean big screen adaptation of
'Puppet on a Chain' that same year,
'The Eagle Has Landed' in 1976 with Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall,
'Game for Vultures' in 1979 with Richard Harris, Richard Roundtree and Joan Collins,
'London Voodoo' in 2004, the Swedish adaptation of
'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' in 2009 with Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist,
'A One-Way Trip to Antibes' in 2011 with Rebecca Ferguson with
'I Love You' in 2016 being his final film role. In the meantime he also appeared in English language TV series
'Upstairs Downstairs', 'Codename : Kyril', 'Millennium' and
'Holby City'. Taube was twice recipient of the prestigious Swedish Guldbagge (Golden Scarab) Award as best actor, respectively for 1994's
'Handerna' and 2011's
'A One-Way Trip to Antibes' amongst his total of three award wins and three other nods.
* John Aniston - born
Yannis Anastassakis on 24th July 1933 and died 11th November 2022, aged 89. Aniston was a Greek born American Actor, who moved to the United States when he was two years of age with his parents who anglicised the family names. He notched up thirty-six screen acting credits during a career spanning seven decades, which began in 1962 on the TV series
'87th Precinct'. His first big screen debut (albeit in an uncredited role) came in 1963 with
'Love with the Proper Stranger' with Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood, with his first credited feature film coming next in
'The Awakening of Spring', followed by
'Fixing Rhonda' also in 2008,
'The Gold & the Beautiful' in 2009 and
'Return to Zero' in 2014 being his final film role. In the years in between there were TV series appearances on the likes of
'The Virginian', 'Mission : Impossible', 'Kojak', on 148 episodes of
'Search for Tomorrow', 'Airwolf', 'Diagnosis Murder', 'Star Trek : Voyager', 'The West Wing', 'Gilmore Girls', 'Cold Case', 'Mad Men', and probably his best known role as Victor Kiriakis on 2,861 episodes of
'Days of Our Lives' between 1970 right up until the time of his death. He was nominated for the 2017 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance on
'Days of Our Lives' and in April of this year it was announced that Aniston would receive a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 49th Annual Daytime Creative Arts & Lifestyle Emmy Awards in mid-June, bringing his total award wins to four with three nods - all seven for
'Days of Our Lives'. He was the father of American Actress and Producer Jennifer Aniston.
* David English - born 4th March 1946 and died 12th November 2022, aged 76. English was a British charity fundraiser, cricketer, Actor and writer. He founded the Bunbury Cricket Club, through which he raised £14M for charity. He was involved in the creation of the Bunbury Festival, a British under-15's cricket tournament that has helped the careers of over one thousand first-class cricketers, and over 125 international players. His acting career took in twenty-two screen credits that began in 1975 on the feature film
'Lisztomania' for Director Ken Russell and starring Roger Daltrey, and then
'Silver Bears' in 1977 with Michael Caine and Cybill Shepherd and
'A Bridge Too Far' that same year with Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Ryan O'Neal and Directed by Richard Attenborough,
'Lifeforce' in 1985 for Tobe Hooper, with
'Sky Bandits' in 1986 being his final film role. In the intervening years and since there were appearances on TV shows taking in the likes of
'Secret Army', 'Ripping Yarns', 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', 'Return of the Saint', 'Tales of the Unexpected', 'Bergerac', 'Casualty', and on six episodes of
'Emmerdale Farm' up to 1993 being his final screen role. He wrote a series of children's books called
'Bunbury Tails' and a spin off animated series called
'The Bunbury Tails' to which he lent his voice in 1992. He also wrote two autobiographies - published in 2003 titled
'Mad dogs and the Englishman : confessions of a loon' and published in 2006 titled
'Confessions of a dedicated Englishman : the hilarious, heartwarming and heady world of the actor, music producer and 'Godfather of English cricket''. He was appointed MBE in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, and CBE in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to cricket and charity.
* Robert Clary - born
Robert Max Widerman on 1st March 1926 and died 16th November 2022, aged 96. Clary was a French born American Actor who generated twenty-four screen acting roles throughout his career which began in 1951 in the feature film
'Ten Tall Men' with Burt Lancaster. He would follow this up with other features including
'Thief of Damascus' in 1952,
'A New Kind of Love' in 1963 with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and
'The Hindenburg' in 1975 with George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft being his final film role. In the meantime there were single and multiple episodes on TV series including
'The High Chaparral', 'Love, American Style', then perhaps his best known role across 168 episodes as Corporal Louis LeBeau on
'Hogan's Heroes' between 1965 and 1971, then
'The Young and the Restless', 'Fantasy Island', 'General Hospital', on 506 episodes of
'Days of Our Lives' between 1972 and 1987 as Robert LeClair, on forty-three of
'The Bold and the Beautiful' between 1990 and 1992 as Pierre Jourdan, with the made for TV movie
'Matisse & Picasso : A Gentle Rivalry' to which he lent his voice as Henri Matisse in 2001 being his final screen outing. Clary published a memoir,
'From the Holocaust to Hogan's Heroes : The Autobiography of Robert Clary', in 2001. In 1942, because he was Jewish, he was deported to the Nazi concentration camp at Ottmuth, in Upper Silesia (now Otmęt, Poland). He was tattooed with the identification "A5714" on his left forearm. He was later sent to Buchenwald concentration camp which he was liberated from on 11th April 1945.
* Nicki Aycox - born 26th May 1975 and died 16th November 2022, aged 47. Aycox was an American Actress and singer/musician who amassed fifty-two screen acting roles during her career which spanned from 1996 with her debut role on a single episode of the TV series
'Weird Science' through until her final screen role in 2014 in the feature film
'Dead on Campus'. In between there were other feature film roles including her debut big screen role in
'Defying Gravity' in 1997, then
'Double Tap' in 1997 with Stephen Rea and Heather Locklear,
'Crime + Punishment in Suburbia' in 2000 with Ellen Barkin and Michael Ironside,
'Jeepers Creepers 2' in 2003,
'Dead Birds' in 2004 with Michael Shannon,
'Perfect Stranger' in 2007 with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis,
'The X Files : I Want to Believe' in 2008 with Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny,
'Tom Cool' in 2009 with Mila Kunis,
'Christina' in 2010 with Stephen Lang,
'The Employer' in 2013 with Malcolm McDowell and
'The Girl on the Train' in 2014 with Stephen Lang again. In the years in between time there were also roles on TV show staking in the likes of
'3rd Rock from the Sun', 'Providence', 'Ally McBeal', 'The X-Files', 'The Twilight Zone', 'Ed', 'Law & Order', 'Supernatural', 'CSI : Miami', on twelve episodes of
'Cold Case', on twenty of
'Dark Blue', 'Longmire' and
'The Glades'. In 2015, Aycox released her debut EP,
'Red Velvet Room', which contained five songs of her own original music.
* James Winburn - born 18th October 1937 and died 19th November 2022, aged 85. Winburn was an American Stuntman, Actor and three time Director of
'Evil Alter' in 1988,
'The Death Merchant' in 1991 and
'Miami Beach Cops' in 1993. All up he accumulated nine acting credits and seventy-eight stunt work credits throughout his career which kicked off in 1970 as a stunt double on the TV series
'McCloud'. From there and over the next thirty-five years he would work on the likes of made for TV movies, TV series and feature films including
'Halloween' in 1978 - probably his best known work in the franchise as the double for the Michael Myers character - also known as 'The Shape',
'The Fog' in 1980,
'The Stunt Man' in 1980,
'Escape from New York' in 1981,
'TRON' in 1982,
'My Favourite Year' also in 1982,
'Pale Rider' in 1985,
'Suspect' in 1987,
'Colors' in 1988,
'Glory' in 1989 with
'Moses : Fallen. In the City of Angels' in 2005 being his final screen role. In the intervening years there was much work on TV series including
'Kojak', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', 'The Bionic Woman', 'Fantasy Island', 'Hart to Hart', 'Magnum, P.I.', 'The Fall Guy' and
'Knight Rider'.
* Jason David Frank - born 4th September 1973 and died 19th November 2022, aged 49. Frank was an American Actor who accumulated forty-five screen acting credits throughout his career which launched in 1994 on the pilot episode of
'V.R. Troopers'. His first feature film came in 1995 in
'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' as Tommy Oliver/White Ranger - a role he would reprise in numerous feature films, TV series and video games over the years that followed. Most notably these included 123 episodes of
'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' between 1993 and 1996, on fifty episodes of
'Power Rangers Zeo' in 1996, on nineteen of
'Power Rangers Turbo' in 1997, on thirty-eight of
'Power Rangers DinoThunder' in 2004,
'Power Rangers Megaforce', 'Power Rangers HyperForce', 'Power Rangers Ninja Steel' and across all of these series he would morph from the White Ranger, to the Green Ranger, to Red Zeo Ranger, to Red Turbo Ranger, to Black DinoThunder Ranger, to Lord Drakkon. In the meantime there were also appearances on
'Sweet Valley High' then other film roles including
'Sirens of the Deep', 'Fall Guy : The Jon Stewart Story' in which he played top Hollywood stuntman Jon Stewart,
'The Junior Defenders', 'The Dragon Warrior' with
'Underdogs Rising' recently completed filming and pending a future release date, and
'Legend of the White Dragon' currently filming at the time of Frank's passing. With his knowledge of many different styles of martial arts that include Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Taekwondo, Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, and Aikido, Frank collected the most practical applications, modified them with his own philosophies and created his own blend of American Karate, 'Toso Kune Do' (translated means 'Way of the Fighting Fist'). In 2003 he was inducted into the World Karate Union Hall of Fame.
* Mickey Kuhn - born
Theodore Matthew Michael Kuhn Jnr. on 21st September 1932 and died 20th November 2022, aged 90. Kuhn was an American Actor who started his career as a child actor, active on-screen during the Golden Age of Hollywood from the 1930's until the early 1950's. All up he generated thirty-two screen acting roles between from 1934 appearing as an uncredited adopted baby boy in
'Change of Heart' with his first credited big screen role coming in 1939's
'Juarez' with Bette Davis, with perhaps his most famed role coming that same year in 1939 in
'Gone with the Wind' with Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh at the tender age of seven. His other credited screen roles included
'Dick Tracy' in 1945,
'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers' in 1946 with Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin and Kirk Douglas,
'High Conquest' in 1947,
'Magic Town' also in 1947 with James Stewart and Jane Wyman,
'Red River' in 1948 with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift,
'A Streetcar Named Desire' in 1951 with Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden and
'On the Loose' also in 1951 with Joan Evans and Melvyn Douglas being his final credited feature film, with three episodes of
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' in 1957 being his last screen appearances. In 1965 he was hired by American Airlines and subsequently served as a supervisor to flight attendants. He later became an administrative manager at a Boston airport and retired from the airlines in 1995.
* Gray Frederickson - born 21st July 1937 and died 20th November 2022, aged 85. Frederickson was an American movie Producer who garnered forty-six screen production credits throughout his career which began in 1963 on the film
'Natika', and which he would follow up with the likes of
'The Godfather' in 1972 with Director Francis Ford Coppola,
'Hit!' in 1973 with Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor,
'The Godfather Part II' in 1974,
'Apocalypse Now' in 1979,
'One from the Heart' in 1981,
'The Outsiders' in 1983,
'The Godfather Part III' in 1990 and
'Distant Vision' in 2016 all with Francis Ford Coppola,
'South of Heaven, West of Hell' in 2000 with Billy Bob Thornton,
'Surveillance' in 2006 with Armand Assante,
'Ivory' in 2010 with Travis Fimmel,
'Persecuted' in 2014 with James Remar with
'Sherwood Forest' recently wrapped filming and awaiting a future release date and
'All Terrain' currently in post-production and also awaiting a release date. Frederickson was nominated for the Academy Award for
'Apocalypse Now' and won the Oscar for
'The Godfather Part II' - both in the Best Picture category. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Director's Guild of America and the Screen Actor's Guild, as well as being the former Vice President in charge of feature film production at Lorimar and more latterly the President of Graymark Productions, Inc.
* Irene Cara - born
Irene Cara Escalera on 18th March 1959 and died 25th November 2022, aged 63. Cara was an American singer, songwriter and Actress of stage, film and television who accumulated forty-three screen acting credits to her name, during a career which began in 1970 across multiple episodes of
'Love of Life' until 1971. Her big screen debut came in
'Apple Pie' in 1975 and
'Aaron Loves Angela' that same year, before gaining top billing in
'Sparkle' in 1976 and then her breakout role in
'Fame' in 1980 for Director Alan Parker. Next up came
'Killing 'em Softly' in 1982 with George Segal,
'City Heat' in 1984 with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds,
'Certain Fury' in 1985 with Tatum O'Neal, with
'Caged in Paradiso' in 1989 being her final live action big screen role. She would lend her voice talents to subsequent films including
'Happily Ever After' as the voice of Snow White,
'The Magic Voyage', 'Beauty and the Beast' as the voice of Beauty, and
'The Jungle King' in 1994. She also had appearances in TV shows taking in the likes of
'Kojak', 'Roots : The Next Generations', 'Bustin' Loose', 'Gabriel's Fire', and
'Hearts Are Wild'. Cara appeared in on- and off-Broadway theatrical shows including the musicals
'Ain't Misbehavin', 'The Me Nobody Knows', 'Maggie Flynn', 'Via Galactica', 'The Wiz' and
'Jesus Christ Superstar'. Cara was the recipient of six award wins including the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for the song 'Flashdance . . . What a Feeling' from the 1983 hit film
'Flashdance' for which she also won the Golden Globe and the Grammy Award and was nominated for the BAFTA, amongst her five other award nods.
* Freddie Roman - born
Fred Kirschenbaum on 28th May 1937 and died 26th November 2022 aged 85. Roman was an American stand-up comedian and seven time Actor of film and TV whose debut came with the feature film
'Sweet Lorraine' in 1987. He would follow this up with other movies
'Finding North' in 1998,
'Bittersweet Place' in 2005 with Seymour Cassel and Elisabeth Moss and
'The Comedian' in 2016 with Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann and Danny DeVito. He would also have roles in
'Law & Order : Criminal Intent' and on eighteen episodes of
'Red Oaks' between 2014 and 2017. Roman headlined at resort venues, including Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip and Harrah's Atlantic City. He continued to perform, well into his later years. He also Co-Wrote, and starred in, the stage show
'Catskills on Broadway' in 2003.
* Clarence Gilyard - born
Clarence Darnell Gilyard Jnr. on 24th December 1955 with his death being reported on 28th November 2022, aged 66. Gilyard was an American Actor of theatre, film and television, author and University Professor. He notched up thirty-six screen acting credits to his name in a career that kicked off in 1981 on two episodes of the TV show
'Diff'rent Strokes', and from there scored his first feature film role in 1986 in
'Top Gun' with Tom Cruise. He would follow this up with other big screen outings including
'The Karate Kid Part II' also in 1986,
'Die Hard' in 1988 with Bruce Willis,
'Walker Texas Ranger 3 : Deadly Reunion' in 1994 with Chuck Norris,
'From Above' in 2013 with Danny Glover,
'The Sector' in 2016 with Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen with
'The Perfect Race' in 2019 being his final feature film. In the meantime, there were also roles on TV series taking in the likes of twenty episodes on
'CHiPs', thirteen on
'The Duck Factory', on eighty-five of
'Matlock', on 196 of
'Walker, Texas Ranger' with the TV movie
'Eleanor's Bench' filming at the time of his passing and set for a future release. He was an Associate Professor in the College of Fine Arts - Department of Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
* Brad William Henke - born 10th April 1966 and died 28th November 2022, aged 56. Henke was an American Actor who generated ninety-nine screen acting credits throughout his career which began with the 1996 feature film
'Mr. Wrong' with Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Pullman. He would follow this up with other features including
'The Fan' also in 1996 with Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes,
'Space Jam' in 1996 too with Michael Jordan,
'The Assassination of Richard Nixon' in 2004 with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts,
'Must Love Dogs' in 2005 with Diane Lane and John Cusack,
'North Country' in 2005 also with Charlize Theron and Jeremy Renner,
'World Trade Center' in 2006 with Nicolas Cage,
'Jobs' in 2013 with Ashton Kutcher,
'Pacific Rim' in 2013 with Idris Elba,
'Fury' in 2014 with Brad Pitt,
'Split' in 2016 with James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy,
'Bright' in 2017 with Will Smith and Joel Edgerton with
'Block Party' released earlier this year being his final screen role. In the intervening years, there were also numerous TV series and made for TV movies taking in the likes of
'Chicago Hope', 'Nash Bridges', 'ER', 'Crossing Jordan', 'Judging Amy', 'Dexter', 'Cold Case', 'Law & Order', 'Lost', 'Criminal Minds', 'Shameless', 'Bones', 'The Office', 'Longmire', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'Orange Is the New Black', 'The Stand' and
'Law & Order : SVU'. Before his acting career Henke was picked up by the Denver Broncos (having been drafted by the New York Giants) and he played in Super Bowl XXIV against the San Francisco 49ers. Repeated injuries, which required six ankle surgeries, led to his retirement from professional football in 1994.
* Derek Granger - born 23rd April 1921 and died 29th November 2022, aged 101. Granger was a British film and television Producer and Screenwriter who notched up twenty-nine Producer credits and five as Writer during a career which began with his Producing eighty episodes of
'Coronation Street' between 1961 and '62. He would follow this up with the creation and production of the TV series
'Bulldog Breed' in 1962 and worked as Producer on
'Pardon the Expression' across twenty-five episodes in 1966. He then wrote the script for the TV movie
'Ten Days That Shook the World' in 1967 and then went onto Produce the TV series
'The Inside Man' in 1969, then nine episodes of
'Country Matters' between 1972 and '73, the TV movies
'Haunted : The Ferryman' and
'Haunted : Poor Girl' both in 1974,
'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' in 1976,
'Come Back, Little Sheba' in 1977,
'No Man's Land' in 1978,
'A Handful of Dust' in 1988 and
'Where Angels Fear to Tread' in 1991 being his final screen credit, with the latter two films for which he also wrote the screenplays for. In the meantime, he also Produced eleven episodes of the critically acclaimed TV mini-series
'Brideshead Revisited' in 1981. Granger won two BAFTA Awards for
'Brideshead Revisited' and
'Country Matters' and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for
'Brideshead Revisited' too.
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 as life reverts almost back to normalcy, despite new variants of the virus being reported and many countries experiencing another wave, we should all, however, continue to be cautious by remembering the basic principles that continue to be advocated. Stay safe and remain healthy wherever you are in the world. R.I.P. you screen legends.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
