R.I.P.2023
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- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Gangsta Boo was born on 7 August 1979 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress and composer, known for Zola (2020), Gangsta Boo: Meet The Devil (2015) and Latto Feat. GloRilla & Gangsta Boo: FTCU (2022). She died on 1 January 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.- A New Orleans native, Patrick John McNamara became known on screen as 'J. Patrick' to avoid confusion with another Actor's Equity member of longer standing. McNamara initially started out performing in plays at the University of New Orleans in order to improve his public speaking, because (in his own words) "I knew that I was going to be a lawyer. I did a play, I was good at it, and that was that. Then I went to law school and hated it." After briefly working for Flying Tiger Airlines in New York, McNamara returned to his home town to complete a degree in theater studies. Before long, he was 'on the boards' performing on stage, including at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He further honed his newly acquired skills at Wayne State University in Detroit and subsequently secured a job teaching voice at the National Academy of Drama, Carnegie Hall.
McNamara resumed his acting career at an avant-garde Off-Broadway club in Manhattan's East Village where he spent the next three years. After that, he taught drama classes at Antioch College in Ohio and then spent time in Europe before returning to New Orleans. He operated a theatrical company there from 1974 to 1977, but the venture proved unprofitable, and, therefore, short-lived. Turning to screen work, McNamara joined Equity and began to amass a solid number of film and TV credits which included two pictures directed by Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and 1941 (1979)), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) (and the sequel - as Bill Preston's dad), an oilman in Dallas (1978) and Dr. Katherine Pulaski's former commander in a season two episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). He was frequently cast as professors, doctors, psychologists or senior executives.
McNamara retired from acting in 2016 and spent his remaining years in New Orleans, devoting time to his favorite hobby: playing poker. - Writer
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ken Block was born on 21 November 1967 in Long Beach, California, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Gymkhana Seven: Wild in the Streets of Los Angeles (2014), Gymkhana Ten: Ultimate Tire Slaying Tour (2018) and The DC Video (2003). He was married to Lucy Block. He died on 2 January 2023 in Wasatch County, Utah, USA.- Patsy Grady Abrams was born on 25 October 1933 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Serial Mom (1994), Enemy of the State (1998) and A Dirty Shame (2004). She was married to Earle Abrams. She died on 3 January 2023 in Rockville, Maryland, USA.
- Mitica Popescu was born on 2 December 1936 in Bucharest, Romania. He was an actor, known for Zloty pociag (1986), Secretul armei secrete (1988) and Pasaj (1990). He was married to Leopoldina Balanuta. He died on 3 January 2023 in Romania.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Joseph Koo was born on 23 February 1931 in Guangzhou, China. He was a composer and actor, known for The Way of the Dragon (1972), A Better Tomorrow (1986) and Fist of Fury (1972). He died on 3 January 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.- Walter Cunningham was born on 16 March 1932 in Creston, Iowa, USA. He was married to Lo Ella Irby, Dot and Dorothy. He died on 3 January 2023 in Houston, Texas, USA.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Notis Mavroudis was born on 16 July 1945 in Athens, Greece. He was a composer, known for Dafnis kai Hloi '66 (1966), Konta sou gnorisa tin agapi (1969) and Queen of Clubs (1966). He died on 3 January 2023 in Koukourava, Makrinitsa, Magnesia, Greece.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Miiko Taka came into the world as Betty Miiko Shikata in Seattle, Washington, a Nisei born of Japanese immigrant parentage. She spent much of her upbringing in Los Angeles. In 1942, Betty and her family were removed from their homes and interned in the Gila River War Relocation Centre in Arizona, a concentration camp which had been set up following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour. One of her fellow detainees was the actor Pat Morita. Betty's internee file described her as a semi-skilled dressmaker and seamstress and suggested stenographer or typist as 'potential occupations'. Little is known of Betty's life prior to her debut in Joshua Logan's Sayonara (1957) , except that she had no prior acting experience and was employed as a clerk at a travel agency in L.A..
The role of Hana-Ogi, the celebrated Matsubayashi dancer who defies tradition by having a secret affair with an American pilot (Marlon Brando), had originally been earmarked for Audrey Hepburn. When Hepburn turned it down, Logan cast the unknown Miiko Taka in the part. Sayonara ultimately grossed $ 10.5 million and won four Oscars, including one for co-star Miyoshi Umeki as Best Supporting Actress. Miiko's performance was lauded by Variety and by Bosley Crowther of the New York Times who described her as "a flute-like beauty - a really lovely, serene and soothing impulse".
In the wake of Sayonara, Miiko was cast as a geisha opposite Glenn Ford in Cry for Happy (1961), a predictable comedy about the assorted romantic affairs of four G.I.'s on leave in Japan during the Korean War. She had further high profile roles in Operation Bottleneck (1961) (as a girl guerrilla), A Global Affair (1964) (with Bob Hope), The Art of Love (1965) (with James Garner) and Walk Don't Run (1966) (with Cary Grant in his last film appearance). On television, she was mostly typecast amid exotic backgrounds in such escapist entertainments as Hawaiian Eye (1959), Adventures in Paradise (1959), I Spy (1965) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Her penultimate screen appearance was as a Japanese noblewoman in James Clavell's miniseries Shogun (1980).
Miiko Taka was thrice married. Her first husband was the actor Dale Ishimoto with whom she had a son and a daughter.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Arthur Duncan was drafted into a dance team with two friends while in school. He initially resisted, but they insisted he give it a try. He liked it, and began to take tap lessons.
For a few years Arthur worked in Australia, where he was a popular performer who was even offered his own TV show. Feeling that he was too young and experienced for the responsibility that would have come with the show, he turned it down. He explained that he was working regularly, so he didn't miss much. While in Australia he met and worked with Ken Delo, who he would later work with for many years on the Lawrence Welk show.
After returning to the US, Arthur asked an acquaintance in the business to inquire if Lawrence Welk had any interest in adding a performer like Arthur to his show. After a long wait, he was asked to an audition, and then a few months later to make a guest appearance. After another couple of guest appearances, Arthur appeared with the show during a run in Lake Tahoe. At the end of the last show there, Lawrence asked Arthur out onto the stage, commented to the audience that Arthur had become popular with them, and announced that he'd like Arthur to "join the Welk musical family". Arthur accepted, and thus began a run of decades on the show, during which it was very rare not to see Arthur have a tap solo, along with other dance numbers with fellow members of the cast.
It shouldn't go without mention that when Lawrence Welk put Arthur Duncan on his show, black performers were generally not well received by TV audiences of the time. Welk showed real courage in breaking the color barrier, and Arthur Duncan obviously won the admiration and respect of both live and TV audiences with his incredible talent, good humor, and pleasant personality.
(The above is based on an interview of Arthur Duncan on the Lawrence Welk shows syndicated on PBS).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Veteran character actor Earl Boen is probably best known for his role as criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in the Terminator series. Other films which he appeared include Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), The Man with Two Brains (1983), Alien Nation (1988), Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000). Boen retired from screen acting in 2003, but continues his work as a voice actor in radio, animated series and video games.- Director
- Editor
- Actor
Central figure of the American avant-garde. An artist who made an isolated animated short, A to Z (1956), Snow concentrated on his painting career until moving to New York in 1963. After attending avant-garde film screenings organized by critic-filmmaker Jonas Mekas and turning out a second film, the formalist New York Eye and Ear Control (1972), he made the highly influential Wavelength (1967). WAVELENGTH consists of a 45-minute zoom across a loft--interruped at several points by a cryptic narrative involving a murder--which ends on a close-up of a photograph of ocean waves. The film quickly earned a reputation in international avant-garde circles and inspired a generation of structuralist filmmakers. It was the first in a series of Snow's works which reduce the film medium to one of its most basic elements--camera movement: Standard Time (1967) is made up of 360-degree pans; in _Back and Forth (1969)_, the camera moves backwards and forwards at varying speeds, recording events in a classroom; in The Central Region (1971), Snow's remote-controlled camera, mounted on a tripod in the middle of the Quebec tundra, executes 360 degree rotations in three different circular patterns (at various speeds) while zooming in and out.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Sam Schacht was born on 19 April 1936 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Great Performances (1971), The Equalizer (1985) and American Playhouse (1980). He was married to Sybil Blaufeld. He died on 5 January 2023 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Editor
- Editorial Department
- Producer
Mike Hill was born in 1949 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. He was an editor and producer, known for Rush (2013), Frost/Nixon (2008) and Apollo 13 (1995). He was married to LeAnne Hill. He died on 5 January 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.- Annette McCarthy was born on 12 April 1958. She was an actress, known for Twin Peaks (1990), Baywatch (1989) and The Fall Guy (1981). She was married to Mark A. Mangini. She died on 6 January 2023 in the USA.
- Cinematographer
- Actor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Ace cinematographer Owen Roizman was born September 22, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York. His father Sol was a cinematographer for Fox Movietone News and his uncle Morrie Roizman was a film editor. Owen studied math and physics at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He began his career shooting TV commercials, and made his feature debut as a director of photography with the obscure and little seen 1970 movie Stop! (1970). Owen brought a strong and compelling sense of raw, gritty, documentary-style realism to William Friedkin's harsh and hard-hitting police action thriller classic The French Connection (1971). Roizman received a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for his outstanding visual contributions to this picture; he went on to garner four additional Oscar nominations, for The Exorcist (1973), Tootsie (1982), Network (1976) and Wyatt Earp (1994). Owen gave a similar rough and grainy look to the edgy urban thrillers The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) and Straight Time (1978). His other films encompass an impressively diverse array of different genres which include horror ("The Exorcist"), science fiction (The Stepford Wives (1975)), comedy (The Heartbreak Kid (1972) "Tootsie"), musicals (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)), drama (True Confessions (1981), Absence of Malice (1981)) and even Westerns (The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), "Wyatt Earp"). His last feature to date was French Kiss (1995). In the early 1980s Owen took a hiatus from shooting films and formed the commercial production company Roizman and Associates. He has directed and/or photographed hundreds of TV commercials. In 1997 he was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.- Apple Brook was born on 20 January 1931 in Leeds, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Andor (2022) and Half a Sixpence (1967). She died on 6 January 2023.
- Michael Levin was born on 8 December 1932 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for Ryan's Hope (1975), As the World Turns (1956) and The Equalizer (1985). He was married to Elizabeth Levin and Loretta Chiljian. He died on 6 January 2023 in Mount Kisco, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Gianluca Vialli was born on 9 July 1964 in Cremona, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Lords of Football (2013), Dumar (2013) and Ramud Volume 2 (2018). He was married to Cathryn White-Cooper. He died on 6 January 2023 in London, England, UK.- Ellie Loizou was an actress, known for I exafanisi (2008), One-Penny Youth (1967) and Wake Up, Poor Periklis! (1969). She died on 6 January 2023 in Greece.
- Actress
- Writer
Dorothy Tristan was born on 9 May 1934 in Yorkville Heights, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Klute (1971), The Looking Glass (2015) and Scarecrow (1973). She was married to John D. Hancock and Aram Avakian. She died on 7 January 2023 in LaPorte, Indiana, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Zinaid Memisevic was born on 26 April 1950 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for 2012 (2009), I Spy (2002) and Miracle (2004). He died on 7 January 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Russell Banks was born on 28 March 1940 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Affliction (1997) and American Darling. He was married to Chase Twichell, Kathy Walton, Mary Gunst and Darlene Bennett. He died on 7 January 2023 in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Adam Rich was born on 12 October 1968 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Code Red (1981), Eight Is Enough (1977) and Dungeons & Dragons (1983). He died on 8 January 2023 in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Producer
- Actress
Lynnette Hardaway was born on 25 November 1971 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She was a writer and producer, known for Diamond & Silk Settles It, Diamond and Silk Breaking News (2015) and Diamond and Silk Crystal Clear (2020). She died on 8 January 2023 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA.- Patrick Grimlund was born on 29 May 1972 in Lidingö, Sweden. He was married to Sara Grimlund. He died on 8 January 2023 in Sweden.
- Roberto Dinamite was born on 13 April 1954 in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He died on 8 January 2023 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Melinda Dillon came to prominence with the role of Jillian Guiler, a mother whose child is abducted by aliens in Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Dillon's performance in the film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A few years later, Dillon received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a devout Catholic woman in Absence of Malice (1981). The performance won the actress a KCFCC Award.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Cindy Mendes was an actress, known for Antônia (2006), 9mm: São Paulo (2008) and Antônia (2006). She died on 9 January 2023 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.- Charles Simic was born on 9 May 1938 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia [now Serbia]. Charles was a writer, known for Gray-Headed Schoolchildren (2011). Charles was married to Helen Dubin. Charles died on 9 January 2023 in Dover, New Hampshire, USA.
- Executive
Peace Anyiam-Osigwe was born on 30 March 1969 in Nigeria. Peace was an executive. Peace died on 9 January 2023 in Lagos, Nigeria.- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Jeff Beck was born in Surrey in 1944. He grew up in a suburban street in Carshalton. When he was about 10, he wanted to play the guitar. His mum, however, wanted him to play the piano because she didn't approve of the guitar. When he was in his late teens, he joined "The Tridents" on lead guitar. In 1965, he replaced Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds. He played with them until 1967 when he decided he'd had enough and wanted to go solo. In the same year, he released his first solo effort "Hi-Ho-Silver Lining", which was the only one of his tracks he ever sang on. In his backing group, he had Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, who later went on to form The Faces. Thoughout the rest of the 60s and 70s, he continued to record instrumental albums. In 1983, three former The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, got together to do one-off charity concerts. In 1984, he contributed lead guitar on Mick Jagger's first solo album "She's the Boss". The same year, he released his next album "Flash", which was voted best instrumental album. In 1989, he released the album "Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop", which was also a big success. Throughout the 90s, Jeff Beck still toured around and, in 1998, played a sellout date in Mexico. In early 2001, he released yet another album "You had it Coming", which he toured to promote.- King Constantine II was born on 2 June 1940 in Villa Psychiko, Athens, Greece. He was married to Queen Anne-Marie. He died on 10 January 2023 in Athens, Greece.
- Cinematographer
- Special Effects
- Camera and Electrical Department
Peter Pereira was born in 1929. He was a cinematographer, known for Mr. India (1987), Border (1997) and The Train (1970). He died on 10 January 2023 in India.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Dennis Budimir was born on 20 June 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is known for Blood In, Blood Out (1993), The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) and One from the Heart (1981). He died on 10 January 2023 in the USA.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Actress Carole Cook showed a knack for comic timing from early on, so much so that the legendary Lucille Ball took her on as a protégée. Cook would make many appearances on Ball's TV shows The Lucy Show (1962) and Here's Lucy (1968), as well as other shows like Magnum, P.I. (1980), Dynasty (1981), and Grey's Anatomy (2005). She would also appear in several movies, like Sixteen Candles (1984) and Home on the Range (2004), while maintaining an active stage career and supporting many AIDS charities.- Tatjana Patitz was born on 25 March 1966 in Hamburg, West Germany. She was an actress, known for Rising Sun (1993), The Larry Sanders Show (1992) and Ready to Wear (1994). She was married to Jason Johnson. She died on 11 January 2023 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Kimbrough was born on 23 May 1936 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Murphy Brown (1988) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002). He was married to Beth Howland and Mary Jane Wilson. He died on 11 January 2023 in Culver City, California, USA.- Ben Masters was born on 6 May 1947 in Corvallis, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for Passions (1999), All That Jazz (1979) and Mandingo (1975). He died on 11 January 2023 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Hector Ramirez was born on 26 August 1944 in Bogotá, Colombia. He was a cinematographer, known for Dancing with the Stars (2005), This Is Spinal Tap (1984) and Fail Safe (2000). He died on 11 January 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Lisa Marie Presley was born on 1 February 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for Lisa Marie Presley: Idiot (2005), Michael Jackson: You Are Not Alone (1995) and Lisa Marie Presley: Dirty Laundry (2005). She was married to Michael Lockwood, Nicolas Cage, Michael Jackson and Danny Keough. She died on 12 January 2023 in West Hills, California, USA.- Jean-Luc Grondin was born on 20 November 1938 in Saint-Gédéon-de-Beauce, Québec, Canada. He was married to Michel Poitras. He died on 12 January 2023 in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Québec, Canada.
- Natalia Sadovskaya was born on 25 November 1928 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Borba prodolzhaetsya (1939), Priklyucheniya Arishki (1929) and Broken Shoes (1933). She died on 12 January 2023.
- Al Brown was born on 26 September 1939 in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Red Dragon (2002), The Replacements (2000) and The Wire (2002). He was married to Barbara Eberz and Janet Newhart. He died on 13 January 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
- Phyllis Applegate was born on 8 May 1930 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She was an actress, known for Big Momma's House (2000), Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) and Black Dynamite (2009). She died on 13 January 2023 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- While best remembered as Ernest Borgnine's Japanese prisoner-of-war Fuji Kobiashi in the wartime sitcom McHale's Navy (1962), Yoshio Yoda came to acting reluctantly and purely by accident. Born in Tokyo, the only son of Honshu middle-class manufacturers, he initially studied law at the prestigious Keio University. However, he quickly realized that neither law nor industry suited his aspirations. A chance meeting with motion picture executive Edward Ugast (1900-1964), general manager in Asia for 20th Century Fox and Vice-President of Four Star Films, persuaded Yoda to study cinema technique in the United States with the prospect of becoming a producer. In 1958, Yoda arrived in California and enrolled at USC.
Three years into his studies, Yoda's faculty was contacted by producer Joe Pasternak at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who was casting for an Asian actor required to be fluent in both English and Japanese. Yoda naturally fitted the bill. Despite his initial misgivings, a mere ten minute interview led to the youngster being signed for the role of Sgt. Roy Tada in The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962), a comedy starring Jim Hutton and Paula Prentiss. On the strength of his performance he was subsequently able to secure the gig on McHale's Navy. When that series had run its course, so did Yoda's acting career. After one more brief TV appearance in 1969, he returned to his roots to forge a career in the car manufacture business at Toyota. He lived in Hawaii for fifteen years, became a United States citizen under the name of James Yoda, and, by 1987, had risen to the position of assistant vice president of inventory and senior division manager. He later resided in Fullerton, California. - Shari Dahmer was born on 21 January 1941 in the USA. She was married to Lionel Dahmer. She died on 13 January 2023 in Seville, Ohio, USA.
- Gordon Edwards Burns was born on 13 December 1930 in Warrior, Alabama, USA. He died on 13 January 2023 in Warrior, Alabama, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Inna Mikhailovna Churikova was born on October 5, 1943, in Belebey, near Ufa, Bashkiria Republic, Russia (at that time USSR). Her parents were from peasant families. Her father, Mikhail Kuzmich Churikov, was a veteran of the Second World War, he worked at Academy of Agriculture. Her mother, Elisaveta Zakharovna (nee Mantrova), was a Ph.D in Biochemistry. Young Inna Churikova was brought up in Moscow by her mother. During her school years she was fond of theatre and attended an acting class at Stanislavsky Theatre in Moscow. From 1960 - 1965 she attended Schepkin Theatrical School at Maly Theatre, graduating in 1965 as an actress.
In 1961 Churikova made her big screen debut in 'Tuchi nad Borskom', then she played bit parts in 'Ya shagayu po Moskve' and in several other films. She shot to fame with the leading role as Tanya Tetkina in _V ogne broda net (1968)_ by director Gleb Panfilov. Churikova's next role in The Beginning (1970), as Pasha Stroganova, a provincial amateur actress who is invited to play Joan of Arc in a big film, was arguably her best work in film. After having a big success with 'Nachalo', Churikova and her husband, director Gleb Panfilov, worked on development of an epic film about Joan of Arc, but their work on the project was obstructed by the Soviet officials. However, Churikova continued her successful film career. In 1984 she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival for the leading role as Vera in 'Voenno-polevoy roman', by director Petr Todorovsky. She starred as Vera in 'God Sobaki', and as Asya in Ryaba, My Chicken (1994), among her other film works.
Since 1974 Inna Churikova has been a member of the troupe at Lenkom Theatre in Moscow under directorship of Mark Zakharov. There her stage partners were such actors as Nikolay Karachentsov, Gennadi Khazanov, Oleg Yankovskiy, Leonid Bronevoy, Aleksandr Abdulov, Armen Dzhigarkhanian, Aleksandr Zbruev, and other notable Russian actors. Among Churikova's most memorable stage performances were such roles as Sara in 'Ivanov' and as Arkadina in 'Seagull', both plays by Anton Chekhov. She also appeared as Ophelia in Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', and as Commissar in Vishnevsky's 'Optimisticheskaya tragedia', among her other stage works.
Inna Churikova has been loved by the public and earned critical acclaim for her range and effortless style. Churikova was designated Peoples Artist of the USSR (1991) and People's Artist of Russia. She was awarded the Golden Mask, and also received the State Prize of Russia (1985) and the Stanislavsky Prize for her contribution to theatre and film. She is residing in Moscow, Russia.- Actor
- Director
Wally Campo was born on 23 April 1923 in Alameda, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Shock Corridor (1963) and Master of the World (1961). He was married to Geraldine Matthews. He died on 14 January 2023 in Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Jeanne Phelps was born on March 1, 1924 in Los Angeles to Lyndon Phelps and Ada Marie Grinnell. She was second to three siblings, brothers named Robert and Raymond. When Jean was about five years old the family moved to Santa Maria, California. In 1942 they moved back with their mother to Los Angeles. As teenagers living in the LA area they often practiced swing dance with their friends. In fact, Jean and Ray got along together so well that they often teamed in dance halls, as a famous photograph testifies. She won a dance contest at the Hollywood Legion Stadium with Gene Halverson, and with it a Screen Actors Guild card and her first movie role, a dancing part in the feature film Swing Fever (1943). The number, One Girl and Two Boys sung by Marilyn Maxwell to Kay Kyser's band, has become a classic although the three (Jean, Lennie Smith and Don Gallagher) remained uncredited. Then she would appear in Where Are Your Children? (1943) and Jive Junction (1943) (dancing with Bob Ashley) and in the swing short Groovie Movie (1944), partnering with Arthur Walsh. She also danced in The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945) with none less than Dean Collins. Yet she did not figure in any of those movies' credits, as neither did her colleagues, usually appearing as background dancers. She married Harold "Babe" Davi whom she would later divorce. In 1946 she acted in El Rancho Vegas hotel under Nick Castle's choreography for several months.
Then in 1948 she started training with famed ballroom dancer Frank Veloz, of the Yolanda and Veloz duo. When wife Yolanda retired the following year, Jean partnered with Frank. They would marry in 1963, continuing with their dancing commitments until he died. They collaborated with Marge Champion, taught Susan Hayward and coached Anthony Dexter for the role of Valentino in the 1951 movie of the same title Valentino (1951), choreographing Lana Turner, Rita Moreno and Ricardo Montalban in Latin Lovers (1953). One can see what a great job Frank and Jean, Tony Dexter and Patricia Medina did together watching the tango sequence in the first film. They opened dance schools and had a TV show. Then when Veloz died in 1981 Jean retired, until the filming of a swing documentary by Rudy Linan brought her back to dancing, and she has continued to do so ever since, well into her 90s. And she is affectionately loved by all the swing and Lindy dancers around the world. Just watch one of her many videos and get stunned. She has her own website too (jeanveloz.com). - C.J. Harris was born on 28 January 1991 in Jasper, Alabama, USA. He died on 15 January 2023 in Jasper, Alabama, USA.
- Director
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Top television director Bruce Gowers has been awarded Emmys, the DGA Award, a Grammy Award and many other shiny trophies for his stylish and groundbreaking work on high-profile productions. His resume includes directing nine seasons of American Idol (2002), earning him an Emmy Award and five nominations for Outstanding Directing and a nomination for the Directors Guild Award.
Bruce is often found calling the shots on the biggest award shows including The Emmys, The MTV Awards, The American Music Awards, The MTV Movie Awards, The Academy of Country Music Awards, The Espy Awards, The Comedy Awards, People's Choice Awards and The Billboard Awards. He has helmed many of the biggest event specials including Live Earth, Live 8, Woodstock Revisited, Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration (2001), The Grammy Nomination Concerts, Miss America, and single artist music specials for The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Fleetwood Mac and Prince. His work on Genius: A Night for Ray Charles (2004) was recognized with a DGA Award win and an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Direction. Specials for Britney Spears, Prince and Barry Manilow were critical and ratings successes.
His career goes beyond his work on music and live event productions, with extensive credits in the comedy arena, such as the long-running series Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998) and specials for Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Richard Lewis, Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld. Gowers' forays into kids programming has brought major successes to Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and PBS, where his name appears on the hit shows Teen Choice Awards, Kid's Choice Awards, Roundhouse (1992), the "Kidsongs" TV shows, The Amanda Show (1999) and All That (1994).
As an Executive Producer and Show Creator, Bruce is credited with the long-running hit "Kidsongs" videos, TV series and music franchise in addition to these successful television series: America's Funniest People (1990), "Spectacular World of Guinness Records", Dancin' to the Hits (1986) and "The Essence Awards". His best-known work is his landmark music video "Bohemian Rhapsody" for Queen and he is least known for his remarkable documentary on Salvador Dalí, "Hello Dali", which won him his first Emmy Award.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Gina Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, Italy. Destined to be called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", Gina possibly had St. Brigid as part of her surname. She was the daughter of a furniture manufacturer, and grew up in the pictorial mountain village. The young Gina did some modeling and, from there, went on to participate successfully in several beauty contests. In 1947, she entered a beauty competition for Miss Italy, but came in third. The winner was Lucia Bosè (born 1931), who would go on to appear in over 50 movies, and the first runner-up was Gianna Maria Canale (born 1927), who would appear in almost 50 films. After appearing in a half-dozen films in Italy, it was rumored that, in 1947, film tycoon Howard Hughes had her flown to Hollywood; however, this did not result in her staying in America, and she returned to Italy (her Hollywood breakout movie would not come until six years later in the John Huston film Beat the Devil (1953)).
Back in Italy, in 1949, Gina married Milko Skofic, a Slovenian (at the time, "Yugoslavian") doctor, by whom she had a son, Milko Skofic Jr. They would be married for 22 years, until their divorce in 1971. As her film roles and national popularity increased, Gina was tagged "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", after her signature movie Beautiful But Dangerous (1955). Gina was nicknamed "La Lollo", as she embodied the prototype of Italian beauty. Her earthy looks and short "tossed salad" hairdo were especially influential and, in fact, there's a type of curly lettuce named "Lollo" in honor of her cute hairdo. Her film Come September (1961), co-starring Rock Hudson, won the Golden Globe Award as the World's Film Favorite. In the 1970s, Gina was seen in only a few films, as she took a break from acting and concentrated on another career: photography. Among her subjects were Paul Newman, Salvador Dalí and the German national soccer team.
A skilled photographer, Gina had a collection of her work "Italia Mia", published in 1973. Immersed in her other passions (sculpting and photography), it would be 1984 before Gina would grace American television on Falcon Crest (1981). Although Gina was always active, she only appeared in a few films in the 1990s. She retired from acting in 1997 after 50 years in the motion picture industry. In June 1999, she turned to politics and ran, unsuccessfully, for one of Italy's 87 European Parliament seats, from her hometown of Subiaco. Gina was also a corporate executive for fashion and cosmetics companies. As she told Parade magazine in April 2000: "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake". (We're glad she made that mistake). Gina went on to say: "I've had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I've had too many admirers."- Casting Director
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Simone Bär was born in 1965 in Königs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg, Germany. She was a casting director and actress, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Babylon Berlin (2017) and Good Bye Lenin! (2003). She died on 16 January 2023 in Berlin, Germany.- Actress
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Lara Lindsay was born Gladys Jacobs in Chicago, began ice skating as a child and found herself in the Icecapades, also other professional shows by her teenage years. She eventually got married to an interior designer, and they had a son together, born in 1963. Upon the break-up of her marriage, Lara began doing television commercials in Tucson, Arizona. Paramount's El Dorado (1966) rolled into Tuscon and she landed a stand-in part in the film. She was encouraged to head-off to Hollywood, plus obtain an agent. Her stage name was derived from the character Lara in Doctor Zhivago (1965). And Lindsay was her brother's first name. Lara also had extensive dental work done to fix-up her teeth.
20th Century Fox's talent executives were impressed with Lara's abilities and attractiveness. She was among some of the very first students of their newly created in-house star building school. Lara was signed in December of 1966, and received promotional backing from the studio. However, by 1971 she was left abandoned in career, and then decided to try her luck behind the scenes. Lara eventually wound-up working directly for Producer Saul David as his assistant. A relationship developed from their time at 20th Century Fox. Saul personally cast her in his film Logan's Run (1976) as The Woman Runner. It also marked her final appearance in a Hollywood film.- Teodor Corban was a Romanian theater and film actor. He was born on April 28, 1957 in Iasi, Romania. He graduated from Institute of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in 1985.In 2003, he plays first role in the movie Calatorie la oras. Other notable roles in films: A fost sau n-a fost? (2006), Amintiri din Epoca de Aur (2009), Aferim! (2015). In 1985-1988 he was employed at the "V. I. Popa" Theater in Barlad, and since 1989 he was the actor of the "Vasile Alecsandri" National Theater in Iasi. He was married with Angela Corban. They had two children actress Ioana Natalia and Tudor.
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With over 80 diverse motion pictures and more than 30 years of experience to his credit, native New Yorker and film producer Edward R. Pressman has forged a career of international renown, marked by originality and eclecticism. Throughout his maverick career, he has brought numerous emerging filmmakers together with projects that have put them firmly on the map. Pressman's reputation as a daring filmmaker was cemented with the international recognition of the French Cinematheque, which presented a 1989 retrospective of his films and awarded him the esteemed Chevalier des Arts et Letters medal. He's also received tributes from The National Film Theatre in London, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Pacific Film Archives and Brooklyn Academy of Music's Cinematék. In 2003, Pressman was honored with the IFP Gotham Award for lifetime achievement.
Pressman's specialty is discovering new talent. He is known for fostering the careers of young and inspired filmmakers including Brian De Palma, Terrence Malick, Oliver Stone, Kathryn Bigelow, David Byrne, Charles Burnett, David Gordon Green, James Marsh, Wayne Kramer, and Jason Reitman. He is responsible for giving Alex Proyas his directorial debut with their breakout hit, The Crow (1994).
Over the years, Pressman has produced many director-driven, high profile projects, bringing new experiences to audiences with directors John Milius, David Mamet, Mary Harron, Abel Ferrara, and Barbet Schroeder. He has also established a reputation as an international producer, working with directors Wolfgang Petersen, the Taviani brothers, Fred Schepisi, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, David Hare, Bo Widerberg, Yimou Zhang, Michael Apted, and Werner Herzog.
The recent Pressman production Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), the sequel to the Oscar®-winning Wall Street (1987) starring Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, and Frank Langella, marked his fourth collaboration with director Oliver Stone. Pressman's three-time collaboration with Abel Ferrara began with the cult classic Bad Lieutenant (1992) He has re-teamed with American Psycho (2000) director Mary Harron on The Moth Diaries (2011). Pressman also enjoys a unique collaboration in Sunflower Productions with long-time friend Terrence Malick.
Pressman is the son of the son of Lynn and Jack Pressman, who founded the Pressman Toy Corporation. He attended New York's Fieldston School, went on to graduate with honors from Stanford University with a B.A. in Philosophy, and pursued graduate studies at the London School of Economics. Pressman is married to Annie McEnroe, whom he met while she was starring in Oliver Stone's movie The Hand (1981). Their son Sam Pressman is an aspiring filmmaker.- Actress
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From the mid-1970s on, Sandra Seacat has been one of America's more sought-after and influential acting teachers/coaches. A method-based actor and teacher, closely associated with the Method's originator, her mentor Lee Strasberg, Seacat gradually became recognized as well for her groundbreaking work in the early eighties involving the application of Carl Gustav Jung's theories to acting technique and pedagogy, thus introducing the practice now known as dream work (also known as "The Way," much as Strasberg's Stanislavski-based system eventually came to be known as "The Method").
Born on October 2, 1936, Sandra Diane Seacat (whose first name, despite the spelling, is pronounced somewhere between 'Sondra' and 'Saundra') was the first of three daughters born to Lois Marion Seacat (née Cronic) and Russell Henry Seacat of Greensburg, Kansas.
After attending Northwestern University, Seacat made her way to New York, eventually being admitted to The Actors Studio, where she would become well versed in the method school of acting espoused by the Studio's director, Lee Strasberg. During the 1960s, Seacat began to get acting work in the city, appearing under her married name, Sandra Kaufman. In 1962, she earned plaudits from Village Voice critic Jerry Tallmer, making her New York stage debut in the American premiere of Leonid Andreyev's "Waltz of the Dogs," an Off-Off-Broadway production mounted by noted acting teacher - and Actors Studio member - Michael Howard.
While the next two years would be taken up with the birth and early rearing of her daughter Greta B. Kaufman (eventually also known as Greta Seacat), she returned to action in 1964 on Broadway with a small role in the Actors Studio production of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters," starring Kim Stanley, Geraldine Page, and Shirley Knight (though neither she nor Knight would appear in the version eventually preserved on videotape).
For the remainder of the decade, as she continued to hone her craft at the Studio, doing scene work with future stage co-stars Ben Piazza and Will Hare, as well as Robert Walden and Robert Viharo, each of whom would remain longtime friends, Seacat (aka Kaufman) quickly became one of Strasberg's prize pupils, and one of the Method's most articulate exponents. Thus, at just about the time her first marriage was coming to an end, a new career path beckoned, when, in 1969, the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute was born.
By the early 1970s, Seacat was leading classes, not only at the Institute, but also at the City College of New York's Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, as well as teaching privately. By 1980, she would also teach at John Strasberg's The Real Stage.
In the meantime, though, both Seacat's acting career - which, from this point forward, along with all other facets of her career, would be conducted under her maiden name - and her matrimonial status (in conjunction with fellow actor Michael Ebert) showed renewed signs of life, as the couple appeared together in a 1969 production of Brendan Behan's 'The Hostage," followed by the New Orleans Repertory Theater's June 1970 revival of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," directed by June Havoc, featuring Ebert as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell and E. Katherine Kerr as Blanche DuBois, as well as Seacat and Ben Piazza, respectively, as Stella and Stanley Kowalski.
Returning to New York, Seacat began to build her teaching practice. Among her early students were Treat Williams and Steve Railsback (the latter preparing for his film debut in Elia Kazan's The Visitors (1972)), and later, Lance Henriksen, Jessica Lange, and Mickey Rourke. Rourke would study with Seacat for several years in New York before departing for the west coast, and then, only at his mentor's behest.
Rourke has repeatedly cited his time with Seacat as the turning point in his career. "That's when everything started to click," he told Newsday in 1984, making a point - as he had in a New York Magazine profile the previous year - to contrast this with his disappointing Actors Studio stint ("I sat there a year, waiting for the teacup to develop in my hand"), saying of the Studio's director, "All I saw Lee do was tear people down." By contrast, speaking with the Los Angeles Times in 1984, Rourke credited Seacat with "channeling all it was that was messing me up into something creative and challenging."
Moreover, notwithstanding his subsequent disillusionment with the Studio, it was Seacat's counsel (as Rourke himself has mentioned more than once) - i.e. that, in order to bring some semblance of conviction to the scene Rourkee himself had chosen for his Actors Studio audition, he must immediately find his biological father (whom he hadn't seen in 20 years) - that enabled Rourke to realize his dream of membership in the alma mater of Brando, Clift and Dean. During Rourke's 2009 appearance on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), after describing his first affective memory, executed under Seacat's guidance more than thirty years before, the 56-year-old Rourke was asked whether he still used what Seacat had taught him. "Very much," he replied. (13 years earlier, a previous generation of ITAS viewers had witnessed Jessica Lange call Seacat "a powerful influence on my acting," and two years before that, Lance Henriksen had offered Film Comment readers an unsolicited 20-year-old recollection of "a great teacher named Sandra Seacat.")
During the 1970s, Seacat continued to juggle her teaching and acting careers, portraying the female leads in a number of Off and Off-Off-Broadway productions, as well as minor roles in three Broadway and Off Broadway shows, receiving particularly favorable notices in the 1973 revival of William Inge's "Natural Affection," co-starring Nathan George, and the American premiere of John Hopkins's "Economic Necessity" in 1976. Halfway between the two came a much-anticipated but ultimately disappointing Actors Studio revival of Harold Pinter's "Old Times." Presented in the fall of 1974 (and followed by a particularly disastrous January 1975 Actors Studio West reprise) with the nominal participation of 'supervising director' Arthur Penn, the production was, in essence, self-directed by its three actors, Seacat, Hildy Brooks, and Will Hare, a fact much lamented by reviewers.
In February 1975, upon Seacat's less than triumphant return to New York following the "Old Times" debacle, Seacat's CCNY employment afforded her a welcome distraction, in the form of an upcoming four-day, Davis Center event featuring playwrights Peter Shaffer, Edward Albee and Arthur Miller, moderated by director Alan Schneider. Starting on May 12 with a symposium entitled "Theatre in the University," and concluding with one day apiece devoted to the works of each of the three guests, with student performances followed by discussions with the respective playwrights, the final day would be devoted to Arthur Miller's work, with each grade level in the Davis Center's acting program performing a scene from a different Miller opus.
The play assigned to Seacat's freshman class was "A View from the Bridge." After choosing as their showcase the final scene from Act One, she cast four of her regular students, but reserved the central role of Eddie Carbone for one of her private students who had just started auditing the class. And thus did Seacat, in this somewhat obscure setting, come to direct the stage debut of the as-yet unknown Mickey Rourke.
Starting in 1978 (after minor roles in two TV specials, NBC's Bicentennial tribute, First Ladies Diaries: Edith Wilson (1976), and Hallmark Hall of Fame's premiere presentation of Arthur Miller's Fame (1978), Seacat's stage career concluded on a decidedly anticlimactic note: a pair of smaller roles, albeit within the context of two somewhat notable productions - one being the first work to be staged in the new Harold Clurman Theatre, Eugene Ionesco''s "The Lesson;" the other, a rare directorial credit for Ellen Burstyn, in the 1979 Actors Studio production of Norman Krasna's rarely revived "Bunny."
In fact, 1978 provided a number of punctuation points for Seacat. Early that year, two significant eras had come to an end - first, on January 26, the end of her marriage to Michael Ebert, and next, just two days later, the death of her father, Russell. This was also the year Seacat persuaded her prize pupil Rourke that there was nothing further to be gained by staying in New York, that it was time to go west and test his fortunes in Hollywood.
Certainly, given her circumstances at that moment, one could see such advice applying equally to Seacat herself, and, indeed, by the early 1980s, Seacat had expanded her base of operations, teaching in both New York and Los Angeles (as she has continued to do ever since), helping actors like Lange, Rachel Ward, and Marlo Thomas give career-changing performances. On March 29, 1983, just weeks after the announcement of Lange's dual Oscar nominations, Seacat was acknowledged by the Associated Press as the one who "helped turn Jessica Lange from King Kong's consort into the soulful actress in Frances (1982) and Tootsie (1982)." A few years later, Liz Smith would acknowledge Seacat for "helping Jessica Lange to her Oscar and Marlo Thomas to her Emmy." Lange herself later told both James Lipton and Vanity Fair just how pivotal Seacat's contribution had been, both for her career in general and, in particular, her portrayal of Frances Farmer.
Regarding the latter, and the intensive nature of that collaboration, J.T. Jeffries writes in his 1986 biography of Lange: "In the spring of 1981, while still breast-feeding her newborn daughter by Baryshnikov, she worked on each scene with her coach, Sandra Seacat... Seacat had expanded her theatrical repertoire in recent years to include techniques from Eastern meditation. Lange regularly used those deep relaxation techniques on the set to improve her concentration in the grueling role." (For screen novice Baryshnikov, the Seacat connection - and those relaxation techniques in particular - would prove a welcome legacy of his relationship with Lange, long since ended by 1985, when the legendary dancer was coached by Seacat on the set of White Nights (1985).)
Regarding the Emmy-winning performance that would help transform the image of Marlo Thomas (at least within the industry), from the indefatigable, relentlessly upbeat protagonist of That Girl (1966) to an actor who could take on any role and be taken seriously doing it, Thomas writes in her 2010 autobiography: "I only wish Lee [Strasberg] could have lived to see me portray a schizophrenic in Nobody's Child (1986). I never could have gotten near playing that kind of part without Lee's exercises, and the subsequent work I did and continue to do with his primary disciple, the brilliant Sandra Seacat."
Of the three career turning points mentioned above, Rachel Ward's transformation - culminating in her Golden Globe-nominated lead performance in The Thorn Birds (1983) - stands out. In the fall of 1982 and continuing on through the following winter, even as Lange's two Oscar-nominated performances were receiving applause, acclaim, and, eventually, awards, the then inexperienced Ward was undergoing a rigorous makeover program under Seacat's guidance. But simply in order to get to that point, Ward first had to get the part. As the Associated Press reports: "Ward's first reading before producers David L. Wolper and Stan Margulies was disastrous. So she hired drama coach Sondra [sic] Seacat." "I studied exhaustively for two weeks," recalled Ward, "went back and did a screen test with Richard." According to Margulies, Ward's second reading "was so breathtaking that she got the part right there. But our questions were whether she could do it over the five-month shooting period."
Seacat had no problem answering those questions, but her prescription was radical, and required Ward's active participation and unwavering commitment. To her credit, Ward did not disappoint; under Seacat's direction, she gave up cigarettes and meat, started a daily exercise regimen, and - utilizing those same meditation techniques used by Lange to such great effect just months before - learned to calm her mind and focus on the task at hand. "You can almost see her develop as an actress in 'Thorn Birds,'" reported the Chicago Tribune. "By the finish, her Meggie is much stronger, more worldly, compassionate. The changes were in character, but they were taking place in Ward too. Thanks, in large part, to Seacat."
"She's extraordinary," Ward said of her new mentor. "She made me work in a totally different way than I'd ever worked before. For the first time, I really worked on technique... It was definitely not an easy five months. It was a lot of tying things together and understanding and confusion and frustration and anger. I asked a lot of questions about acting and about me and stuff, and Sandra just had these answers, and they were just like, of course, oh my God, of course!"
It was during this same period, as reported by The New York Times more than 25 years later, that Seacat's Jung-inspired experiments ushered in the now widespread practice known as dream work, wherein actors interpret and sometimes influence their own dreams, often casting and staging those dreams in the process, all in the interests of achieving the richest, most genuine characterization possible. A number of the younger dream work practitioners, such as Elizabeth Kemp, Kim Gillingham, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, and actor/directors John Markland and Jamie Wollrab, as well as Sandra's daughter and fellow acting coach, Greta, all claim Seacat as their mentor. Moreover, longtime Seacat clients Melanie Griffith and Gina Gershon, as well as onetime student, Diane Salinger, have long been on record regarding the impact this innovation has had on their own careers.
"In Sandra's class," recalled Salinger in 1987, "we had dream assignments where, before you went to sleep, you'd write out an assignment to yourself, and dream dreams that had connections to the work you were doing. I've done that with this play." "It's a great way to open yourself up," insisted Griffith in a 1986 interview. "It's been very healthy for me, because I think our interior soul knows a lot more about ourselves than our conscious intellect ever allows you to think about." More recently, Hélène Cardona, a Paris-born poet, translator and actor who studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Actors Studio in the early 1990s, recalled: "When I trained with Sandra Seacat at the Actors Studio in New York, she introduced me to a particular form of dream work. You could call it Jungian. I have kept doing this work for many years now. It's very therapeutic, a more holistic approach to [sic] medicine. And it can also be used to develop a character in a play or movie. You dig into yourself to find the answers. In the dream you are connected to your inner self and to the divine."
Gershon is particularly passionate on the subject, speaking in a 1998 interview: "Sandra totally changed my acting. Instinctively, I was always in love with psychology and my dream life had always been very important to me... What's really exciting to me about Sandra's work is that it changes your life, almost on a psychic level. Now I'll get parts and in working on them, she'll say, 'Well, let's see how you're developing, as a human being.' Because the parts you're doing, it's no accident. Those parts affect your life and they kind of illustrate the map that your life is following." As recently as August 26, 2012, speaking with The Lab Magazine, Gershon reaffirmed the importance of Seacat and dream work to her career.
In a 2001 interview with Back Stage West, another longtime Seacat client of mid-eighties vintage, Laura Dern, went public. While not specifically referencing dream work, Dern echoes both Gershon, Cardona and Rachel Ward in her portrayal of Seacat's holistic, almost therapeutic approach, a characteristic previously noted in 1994 by erstwhile Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter ("better than any therapist," Carter told USA Today, regarding the time spent studying with Seacat: "you strip yourself of ego, and the whole experience unearths all your analytical feelings and self-discovery"), and one which brings to mind another Jungian archetype central to Seacat's career from at least the 1980s onward; as Seacat would tell the New York Times in 2009, "I believe that the artist is a wounded healer, that they are healing wounds of their own, and when they do that truthfully, they heal the audience." Dern recalled:
"Through studying and through being raised on movie sets, I was surrounded by a lot of people who believed that the more tortured the person, the greater the artist. I always had a hard time understanding that, but thought, 'I guess that's the way it is'... Luckily through life and the gift of the acting teacher who's changed my life in so many ways since 1984 (her name is Sandra Seacat), I learned there's another opinion, which is: the better the person, the better the artist. The more true you are to who you are and the more honest you are as an individual, the more honest you can be as an actor, and I'm really liking that." Asked if she still studied, Dern replied, "I still study with Sandra and I love studying."
Speaking again with BSW in 2004, Dern elaborated: "All of a sudden, this new idea that the parts I play help me discover myself and I could maybe be kinder to the ambiguous places and the flaws - I was so lifted by that. Since then, I feel like it's an extraordinary experience of therapy and learning about being in the moment and honoring that. All of a sudden, acting wasn't this torment where you're supposed to be a screwed-up artist, but it's an opportunity for self-growth. And I think I've had fun ever since." Finally, in January 2012, at the [error], Dern reaffirmed the connection, thanking Seacat in her acceptance speech for Best Actress in HBO's Enlightened (2011), the first two episodes of which had each featured Seacat in a small role.
In 1988, with her dream work innovations now well underway, and some well-publicized individual success stories under her belt, a unique opportunity came Seacat's way - that being the chance to direct a feature film. This would eventually become In the Spirit (1990), the first, and as yet, only film Seacat has directed, "a low-budget pic," as Variety would note, featuring "big-name talent."
The over-qualified/underpaid cast included no less than three of Seacat's regular clients, Marlo Thomas, Melanie Griffith and Peter Falk, as well as Olympia Dukakis at the height of her popularity, having just collected her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Moonstruck (1987). Arguably the film's casting coup, however (and probably the positive element most frequently cited by reviewers), was landing the celebrated writer/performer Elaine May to co-star opposite Thomas (with May's daughter, Jeannie Berlin, who co-authored the screenplay, also appearing).
Very much a homegrown New York product (a passing reference to The Robin Byrd Show (1977) being just one of several inside jokes contained therein), the supporting cast featured an assortment of local luminaries, some of them professional actors, some not. The former group included both indie icons - e.g. Michael Emil, Mark Boone Junior and Rockets Redglare - and 'legit' stage and TV actors such as Hope Cameron and Gary Swanson (both fellow Actor Studio members); the latter, such miscellaneous notables as Fox TV anchor/reporter Steve Powers, musicians Roy Nathanson and Nora York, and playwright Christopher Durang. Of the remaining bit players, at least two were Seacat students, Phil Harper and Emidio La Vella (the latter of whom would be Seacat's first post-ITS coaching client in 1990). Moreover, making his film debut here was Seacat's current husband, Thurn Hoffman.
Notwithstanding numerous press references to Seacat's screen directing debut, both before and after the film's release (almost all citing her storied coaching career), Seacat herself maintained a characteristically low profile throughout, surfacing only long enough to contribute one sentence to an article on the film's producer, Julian Schlossberg: "There are two main things about Julian -- he has a big heart and he goes the distance." Speaking of Schlossberg, co-star Elaine May got into the act as well, providing her own characteristically tongue-in-cheek teaser, a mock-interview with the producer on the making and marketing of ITS, published in the New York Times just days before the film's release.
Regarding May, Liz Smith would report (circa December 1988, shortly after the film had wrapped): "Recent remarks here about the genius that is Elaine May brought forth the encouraging news that we'll soon see this gifted actress in a new suspense movie written by her daughter Jeannie Berlin (with co-writer Laurie Jones). In the Spirit had all its money raised independently by producers Julian Schlossberg and Beverly Irby. They're now editing the film and seeking a distributor for release next spring. The cast is a staggering one -- Elaine and daughter, as well as Peter Falk, Melanie Griffith, Marlo Thomas, Olympia Dukakis and Louise Lasser. The director was an interesting choice: Sandra Seacat, acting coach and guru to many stars..."
In retrospect, given both the fact that Louise Lasser - barely visible in the finished film and nowhere to be seen in its credits - was still being announced as one of the film's featured players even after the film had wrapped, and that the film itself would not make it to theaters until more than a year past its estimated release date, one becomes better prepared for the reality of ITS's narrative disarray - a reality made obvious by the titles themselves in this broad sample of reviews: "Grand and Goofy Comedy," "'In the Spirit' - An Endearing Mess," "Screwball Comedy Holds Up Even When Plot Sags," "Spirit Loses Its Comic Flair Halfway Through," "'Spirit' Amusing, But Unpolished," "'In the Spirit' Needs a Bit More Body," "'In The Spirit' Needs To Be More Perky, Less Poky," and "A Few Screws Are Loose But 'In The Spirit' Offers A Rare Glimpse Of Elaine May In A Feminist Comedy."
As one can see, critical reaction among the nation's dailies was mixed at best. Two reactions were almost universal: appreciation for the film's performances, especially those of the two leads, as well as disdain for its technical shortcomings - seen primarily in the areas of camera placement and pacing, as well as the aforementioned matter of narrative construction. What distinguished the favorable from the unfavorable review in these cases was largely a matter of emphasis. Unfortunately for Seacat, when it came to evaluating her impact on the finished film, the emphasis was placed almost exclusively on the shortcomings. And while reviewers had, almost without exception, made the obligatory mention of Seacat's storied coaching career, in practice, it appears, few felt compelled to credit her with even contributing to her actors' success.
Two of the more sympathetic reviews, by Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune and ex-Village Voice critic Carrie Rickey, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer, tended however to bypass both Seacat and the film's screenwriter, Jeannie Berlin, and instead credit Elaine May as the film's true auteur.
Two of the film's most merciless drubbings were administered, respectively, by the Washington Times ("New Age 'Spirit' Gets Old and Boring Quickly") and by the Chicago Sun-Times ("The Mystery of 'Spirit' is Finding Film's Funny Parts"); however, given the film's target audience (even the Los Angeles Daily News called it "a flat-out New York comedy, with all of the pluses and minuses"), the most damaging blow of all was almost certainly delivered by the New York Times' Janet Maslin, with her considerably more polite, yet thoroughly condescending dismissal:
"The beneficial power of crystals has done nothing for In the Spirit, a nervous new-age comedy much more notable for good intentions than good luck. A rare appearance by Elaine May, who co-stars with Marlo Thomas in what proves to be an unexpectedly mundane caper story, and a directing credit for the respected acting coach Sandra Seacat give In the Spirit a lot more curiosity value than it would otherwise have... Ms. Seacat's direction is especially strange, since it is so thoroughly unaccommodating to the actors. The camera is treated as if it were radioactive, never being allowed to linger where a performer might be heard clearly or shown off to good advantage." Even the generally lauded female leads do not escape unscathed: "The actors, especially Ms. May and Ms. Thomas, spend a lot of time yammering simultaneously in time-honored sitcom style."
If America's original paper of record had delivered one of Spirit's most resounding pans, it would fall to the entertainment industry's trade 'paper of record' to supply arguably its most simpatico critique (though it did little to help the movie's less than middling box office returns). Not merely echoing the critical consensus regarding Thomas' and May's "memorable screen odd couple," Variety embraced the film itself, portraying its limitations as strengths: "an unusual case of big-name talent gathering with friends to make a low-budget pic freed of mainstream good taste and gloss." While not oblivious of the film's structural issues ("weakest element being a stupid framing device of a mystical narrator... midway shift in tone may put off some viewers, but others will likely relish the intensity of the May and Thomas segment"), it was Variety, virtually alone among reviewers, that cited Seacat for something beyond merely her ability to handle actors: "First-time director Sandra Seacat emphasizes slapstick but also female bonding as the gals on the lam reach beyond their wacky survivalist tactics to address feminist issues."
After Seacat's extended directorial excursion, the transition back to her customary regimen was eased considerably by the fact that the clients for her next few coaching projects were all ITS cast members. First, as previously mentioned, was Emidio La Vella in Un metro all'alba (1990). Next in line was Thomas herself, on Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story (1991); in addition, Seacat would work with Melanie Griffith on Born Yesterday (1993), and with Thomas again on Reunion (1994). Back on the east coast, Seacat would join the faculty of the recently formed Actors Studio Drama School at the New School for Social Research in the fall of 1996.
Starting in 1999, Seacat embarked on an unprecedented binge of media exposure, becoming the 'talking head' on three TV documentaries in the space of two years, and, even more uncharacteristically, speaking at length about three of her clients in the process. Despite this seeming incongruity, given Seacat's customary regard for client confidentiality (witness the Sandra Seacat entry at TakeHollywood.com), the fact is that, whenever a given actor has had no qualms about revealing their working relationship, or has already done so, Seacat has always been happy to grant interviews on the subject, as she did at length in 1983 for New York Magazine's Mickey Rourke profile. Speaking of whom, Rourke is the subject of the first of these three documentaries (as well as one in 2008, in which Seacat also participated), followed, respectively, by two very vocal Seacat champions, Laura Dern and Jessica Lange.
Another Seacat outburst, addressed not merely to the press, but to one of her longstanding client's potential employers, would occur in 2003, part of an image makeover much like that of Seacat's oft-recounted early success stories, Jessica Lange and Marlo Thomas, especially the latter, another era's perpetually perky, seemingly ubiquitous paragon of 'cute.' This time, however, instead of a sixties sitcom princess, it was the nineties romcom queen, Meg Ryan, who was chomping at the bit for some more challenging roles. While working with Seacat on her upcoming Jackie Kallen biopic, Against the Ropes (2004), Ryan saw the opportunity for an even more radical departure with Nicole Kidman's early exit from Jane Campion's In the Cut (2003).
Interviewed shortly before the film's release, Campion recounted Seacat's surprising phone intervention: "Sandra said, 'Look, I'm working with Meg Ryan. I've never done this before, but she's doing amazing work. You should audition her.' And I said, 'Audition Meg? Do you think she'd audition?' She said, 'Sure, she would.'"
Ryan would indeed audition, and for helping Campion get beyond her preconceptions, the grateful director likened Seacat to "a fairy godmother who takes the mists away." As it happens, Campion's preconceptions were not unlike those of the many reviewers who would find Ryan's performance a revelation, as well as the most interesting and accomplished element within a not so successful film. Speaking for public consumption, Seacat reiterated: "Meg has great courage and discipline and commitment. Her talent is large, and her potential is vast."
The following year, speaking with Newsday on the set of We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004), exactly one week after the film's co-star, Laura Dern, had expanded upon her own 2001 tribute to Seacat, her longtime teacher returned the favor: "'Laura is a free spirit,' says Sandra Seacat, the celebrated acting coach and a longtime associate of Dern's. 'She's also a great student and a dedicated artist - and there aren't very many people I call artists. But the entire cast of this film [including also Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Watts, and Peter Krause], they're all true artists, dedicated to their own inner truth, and they have the courage to share that. You don't find that very often.'"
As the decade wore on, perhaps fueled by dream work's increasing popularity, Seacat's name began to be seen in print more frequently, some of the mentions dreamwork-related, others - like those by Dern, Marlo Thomas, or Mickey Rourke - simply satisfied customers reaffirming their indebtedness.
Speaking with Back Stage in 2010, acting teacher Alex Cole Taylor called Seacat "a beautiful woman and a beautiful artist'," as well as the primary model for Taylor's compassionate and nurturing stance towards his own students. Speaking with CNN in 2012, acting coach and dream work practitioner Elizabeth Kemp paired Seacat with Lee Strasberg as two of the teachers to whom she was most deeply indebted. Moreover, two of Seacat's students, actor/directors Jamie Wollrab and John Markland, have each been putting Seacat's teachings into practice, one play at a time - Wollrab, with his Triptych Theatre; Markland, with the Moth Theatre Company, itself composed largely, if not entirely, of fellow Seacat alumni (including Scoot McNairy, Pamela Guest, Dov Tiefenbach, Anna Rose Hopkins, and Kris Lemche), recently incorporating Wollrab as well. The latter's words -- quoted in Steve Julian's 2010 Moth Theatre profile -- echo those of his mentor, just one year before: "'More than anything,' Wollrab says, 'we're wounded healers. Each of us. I think that's why audiences keep taking to our work.' Work he describes as fragile and beautiful."
As it happens, Wollrab had hitherto collaborated with his teacher on just such work, when, in August 2007, more than four decades and a quarter of a century, respectively, after Seacat's previous notable forays into directing, she would oversee Wollrab's direction of Elizabeth Meriwether's play, "The Mistakes Madeline Made," staged at Boulder, Colorado's Dairy Center for the Arts.
As in her previous directorial assignments, Seacat was again supervising a number of current and/or former students, including, along with the director, her daughter Greta Seacat, Justin Chatwin, Shannon Woodward, and the late Johnny Lewis. The younger Ms. Seacat's performance garnered particularly favorable notices, dubbed "steady and grounded" by Mark Collins of the Boulder Daily Camera, and "a marvel" by Lisa Bornstein of the Rocky Mountain News: "Simplistic (she frequently shuts her laptop to avoid news of Iraq) and authoritarian, but awkwardly kind as well, Beth is annoying, but she knows it; in Seacat's hands, she's funny and real."
Regarding Seacat Sr., one happy addendum: roughly coinciding with the millennial media spike in Seacat sightings was a corresponding increase in the size and substance of her film roles. Seacat's screen resumé had long seemed little more than a collection of discreetly camouflaged acting coach credits, typically a small part contained in one or two scenes within a film which itself featured one or more of Seacat's coaching clients - well-acted, in and of itself, but, as conceived, simply too perfunctory and/or peripheral to the film's narrative to register strongly. (For a perfect case in point, witness Seacat's 5½-minute one-and-done appearance in The Golden Seal (1983) with Steve Railsback, starting at the '01:23:14 remaining' mark; IMDb provides free access to the film in its entirety.)
This began to change in 1999 with a series of three consecutive films, each one featuring Seacat as the protagonist's mother. In the first two, Crazy in Alabama (1999) and Daddy and Them (2001) (portraying, respectively, 'Crazy' Melanie Griffith's concerned mom, and 'Daddy' Andy Griffith's oft seen, but rarely heard wife), the upgrades were subtle, to be sure; nonetheless, Seacat was onscreen far more - and at more crucial points in the narrative - than in any of her previous films.
It was 2003, however, that brought the most dramatic change, not just from a subsidiary to a starring role, but from the almost mute matriarch of D&T's constantly bickering clan (blocking out the most intense or awkward moments with her trusty Macarena monkey) to the vigorously - and vocally - proactive 'normalizer' of the equally - if less loudly - dysfunctional family in A Little Crazy (2003).
Co-starring Seacat students Jack Kerrigan, Kim Gillingham, and Kirk Baltz, "A Little Crazy" debuted at the 2003 Method Fest, earning Kerrigan a nomination for the festival's John Garfield Award, and, for the film itself, a rave review from Variety's Robert Koehler, praising, in particular, "the superb Seacat," as the "overreaching but never strident" matriarch of the film's "unhinged American family." Sadly, despite the review and subsequent awards from the Berkeley Video & Film Festival, the Hollywood MiniDV Festival, and the Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival, the independently produced film found neither a theatrical nor a DVD release (though it has, as of 2010, become available online via IndieFlix); as a result, what is almost certainly Seacat's most sizable and fleshed-out film performance to date has gone largely unseen.
Her next assignment, another independently made feature that would not see a theatrical release (again co-starring Kim Gillingham), In the Land of Milk and Money (2004), features Seacat in a much smaller role, but again a pivotal one, in a film which, none too skillfully, harkens back to the cautionary sci-fi tales of the fifties, as well as the neo-zombie variations of the seventies and beyond, in its tale of genetically modified cow's milk generating an epidemic of mothers killing their offspring. As one of the affected mothers, Seacat, in a handful of scenes, with a minimum of screen time and dialogue, gives an acting clinic, shifting from unreadable rage to transparent delight, from grief-stricken, guilt-ridden parent to righteous avenger.
Seacat's next few post-millennial assignments included a number of independently made films that remain, for better or worse, even harder to get a hold of than the previous two. More recently, however, have come brief but high-impact performances in a pair of relatively high-profile projects, HBO's You Don't Know Jack (2010), starring Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian, aka 'Dr. Death' (and featuring Seacat as his first 'patient,' the Alzheimers-afflicted Janet Adkins), as well as actor Mark Ruffalo's feature film directing debut, Sympathy for Delicious (2010), wherein Seacat has an even smaller, but equally pivotal, role.
The former, in particular, caught the eye of Columbia University MFA candidate Jed Cowley in the fall of 2011, then casting his thesis film, a short subject set - and shot - in a shale pit in the filmmaker's home town of Medford, Oregon. As he would later recall, it took no more than one viewing of Seacat's brief but telling appearance in the Kevorkian biopic before Cowley and his producer "knew she should be Sheila," Shale (2012)'s long-suffering but "newly empowered" protagonist, the "once dutiful wife" now confronting her intractable ex-spouse against the shale pit's stark backdrop.
With Seacat in attendance, "Shale" had its premiere on May 5, 2012, at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, as part of the Columbia University Film Festival, where the film would earn the IFC Audience Choice Award. The film is also an official selection at the 2013 Slamdance Festival in Park City, Utah, screening with the South-African-set feature, Fynbos (2012), on Friday, January 18th, at 7 PM, and again on Tuesday the 22nd, at 12 noon.
As already mentioned, Seacat also appeared recently in the first two episodes of Laura Dern's HBO series "Enlightened," as well as the feature film, The Time Being (2012), representing the directing and screenwriting debuts, respectively, of Nenad Cicin-Sain and producer Richard N. Gladstein.
Seacat's next scheduled appearance is in Gia Coppola's feature film directing debut, still in pre-production, entitled Palo Alto (2013), based on short stories by James Franco.
In the meantime, Seacat has not neglected her educational mission; in fact, while remaining active on both coasts, she also recently made inroads into the heartland, when, on March 8, 2012, together with longtime friend and colleague, Robert Walden, and several others, she became a founding faculty member of the newly instituted Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Film Forum, a three-day, multi-disciplinary seminar to be hosted annually by the University of Arkansas.- Michael Lehrer was born on 1 December 1978 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth (2020), Sports Action Team (2006) and Masters of the Internet (2017). He died on 17 January 2023 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- is an American professional wrestler best known by his ring name Jay Briscoe and is currently signed to Ring of Honor (ROH) and also works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a record 11-time ROH World Tag Team Champion with his brother, Mark Briscoe, with whom he also has a reign as IWGP Tag Team Champion in NJPW, as well as being part of three Six-Man Tag Team Championship teams between ROH and NJPW. As a singles wrestler, Briscoe is also one of four wrestlers (alongside Austin Aries, Adam Cole, and Jay Lethal) to have twice held the ROH World Championship. Jay and Mark Briscoe made their debuts for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) at Delaware Invasion on January 20, 2001, being brought in to job as part of a three-on-one handicap match against Trent Acid. At the inaugural Best of the Best event, a show somewhat atypical of CZW in that it is a tournament spotlighting athletic junior heavyweight wrestling as opposed to violent hardcore matches, the two advanced past the first round in a three-way match with Nick Mondo where the stipulation was whoever took the fall would be eliminated. They were then matched against each other in the second round, with Jay winning and advancing further. This match was seen by fans as the best of the tournament, and seen in retrospect as having been responsible in large part for helping launch the brothers' careers, as they were new to the independent circuit and very young at the time.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Van Conner was born on 17 March 1967 in Apple Valley, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The River Wild (1994), Singles (1992) and Supernatural (2005). He was married to Jill Danielson. He died on 17 January 2023.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Music Department
David Crosby was born on 14 August 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Backdraft (1991), Hook (1991) and The Limey (1999). He was married to Jan Dance. He died on 18 January 2023 in Santa Ynez, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nikolay Dostal was born on 21 May 1946 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for Cloud-Paradise (1990), Zaveshchanie Lenina (2007) and The Monk and the Demon (2016). He died on 18 January 2023 in Russia.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Keith Winsted was born on 9 August 1965 in Russellville, Alabama, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Red Marsh (2020), Gory Gory Hallelujah (2003) and The Heartbreak of Acting (2009). He died on 18 January 2023 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.- Yun Jeong-hie was born in 1944 in Busan, Korea. She was an actress, known for Poetry (2010), Flower in the Snow (1992) and Two Flags (1994). She was married to Kun-woo Paik and Paik Kun-woo. She died on 19 January 2023 in Paris, France.
- Ginger Stanley was born on 19 December 1931 in Sandersville, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for Creature Feature: 60 Years of the Gill-Man (2014) and Creature Feature: 50 Years of the Gill-Man (2004). She died on 19 January 2023 in Orlando, Florida, USA.
- Actress
Maya Menglet was born on 8 August 1935 in Moscow, USSR. She was an actress, known for Shans (1984), Delo bylo v Penkove (1958) and Matros s Komety (1958). She was married to Leonid Satanovskiy. She died on 19 January 2023 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Sumitra Peries was born on 24 March 1934 in Avissawella, Sri Lanka. She was a director and editor, known for Sagara Jalaya Madi Handuwa Oba Handa (1988), Loku Duwa (1994) and The Girls (1978). She was married to Lester James Peries. She died on 19 January 2023 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.- Tim Barlow was born on 18 January 1936 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Hot Fuzz (2007), Les Misérables (1998) and Automata (2014). He died on 20 January 2023 in the UK.
- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Well-known Philadelphia radio and TV personality, called "The Geator with the Heater." He began as a dancer on American Bandstand (1952) in 1953, became a disc jockey in 1960 and had a nationally syndicated TV dance show, "The Discophonic Scene" (1960), and talk show, "Jerry' s Place" (1960), in the 1960s. Jerry was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and continued to broadcast in Philadelphia on the Geator Gold Radio Network.- Elena Apergi was an actress, known for I Blame the People (1966), Madalena (1960) and Maria Pentagiotissa (1957). She was married to Dionysis Pagoulatos. She died on 20 January 2023 in Athens, Greece.
- Na Chul was born on 24 December 1986. He was an actor, known for Concrete Utopia (2023), Weak Hero Class 1 (2022) and Happiness (2021). He died on 21 January 2023 in Seoul, South Korea.
- Linda Kasabian was born on 21 June 1949 in Biddeford, Maine, USA. She was married to Robert Kasabian and Robert Peasley. She died on 21 January 2023 in Tacoma, Washington, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Errikos Andreou was born on 15 December 1938 in Athens, Greece. He was a director and writer, known for I antarsia ton 10 (1970), Papaflessas (1971) and Efialtis (1961). He was married to Nora Valsami. He died on 21 January 2023 in Athens, Greece.- Actor
- Producer
Ambar Kothare was born on 14 April 1926. He was an actor and producer, known for Khabardar (2005), De Danadan (1987) and Khatarnak (2000). He died on 21 January 2023 in Mumbai.- Simon Dunn was born on 27 July 1987 in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. He died on 21 January 2023 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Deborah Barak was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. Deborah was a producer and writer, known for Blast (2004), Mad Scientists (2011) and Deadliest Catch: The Bait (2013). Deborah died on 21 January 2023.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Agustí Villaronga was born on 4 March 1953 in Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain. He was a director and writer, known for Moon Child (1989), Black Bread (2010) and The Belly of the Sea (2021). He died on 22 January 2023 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Thomas Hellberg was born on 29 September 1941 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was an actor and director, known for Man on the Roof (1976), Råttornas vinter (1988) and The Man from Majorca (1984). He died on 22 January 2023 in Sweden.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Nikos Xanthopoulos was born on 31 August 1934 in Athens, Greece. He was an actor, known for Agapisa kai ponesa (1963), Ftohogeitonia agapi mou (1969) and Amartola heria (1963). He was married to Eleni Karpeta and Erifilli Xanthopoulou. He died on 22 January 2023 in Athens, Greece.- Mario Pupella was an Italian actor, theatre director and art director who was born Castelvetrano, Sicily, in 1945. He debuted at a very young age in "Henry the fifth" by Luigi Pirandello, and then became main actor and director in many theater plays by Plauto, Terenzio, Ben Jonson, Molière and several big authors from the 1900s. In cinema, he debuted as the protagonist of the film "Angela" by Roberta Torre. He also took part in two seasons of the tv series "L'onore e il rispetto" by Salvatore Samperi, playing the role of don Patrono. In "La siciliana ribelle" by Marco Amenta he was the antagonist of the judge Borsellino. He also played the role of Don Mimì in the film "La matassa" with Ficarra and Picone. In 2012, he was co-star in Carlo Fusco's film "Vento di Sicilia".
- Actor
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- Producer
Everett Quinton was born on 18 December 1951 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Natural Born Killers (1994), Bros (2022) and Pollock (2000). He died on 23 January 2023 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Eugenio Martín was born on 15 May 1925 in Ceuta, Spain. He was a writer and director, known for Horror Express (1972), The Ugly Ones (1966) and Viaje romántico a Granada (1955). He was married to Lone Fleming. He died on 23 January 2023 in Spain.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Extremely prolific German actor and voice actor of urbane manner and gentlemanly appearance, trained at the Conservatory for Music and the Performing Arts in Berlin under the auspices of Wilhelm Althaus. On stage from 1955, he began as an ensemble member of the famous cabaret troupe Die Stachelschweine. He debuted on screen the following year and then appeared sporadically, usually in supporting roles, as minor authority figures. It was, however, his distinctive voice which proved to be his greatest asset. Aside from dubbing for films and TV, he also featured prominently in (often youth-oriented) radio plays, such as 'TKKG'. Prior to his retirement in 2021, Draeger was the regular German synchronising voice for Woody Allen, with whose personae he said to have felt a natural affinity. Other notable stars he dubbed for have included Dudley Moore and James Cagney (on frequent occasions), Jack Nicholson, Alain Delon, Christopher Plummer, Eric Idle, Alan Arkin and Gene Wilder. He was also Bob Denver's voice in Gilligan's Island (1964).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Born and raised in Italy, Luciana Lagana was a multilingual, multiple-award-winning actress, screenwriter, professor, and researcher with dual citizenship. She published over 30 peer-reviewed academic publications and is a clinical psychologist. Luciana completed Second City's 'Improv for Actors' training, had several years of acting training (both dramatic and comedic), and performed at the LA Connection Comedy Theater and at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. Additionally, she had radio as well as TV hosting training and experience, booking roles as an expert in psychology, gerontology, sexuality, and women's health.- Victor Navasky was born on 5 July 1932 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Annie Strongin. He died on 23 January 2023 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.
- Lance Kerwin was born on 6 November 1960 in Newport Beach, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Outbreak (1995), Enemy Mine (1985) and Salem's Lot (1979). He was married to Yvonne Kerwin and Kristen Lansdale. He died on 24 January 2023 in San Clemente, California, USA.
- Cynthia Bostick was born on 3 June 1952 in Owensboro, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress, known for That's the Way of the World (1975), One Life to Live (1968) and As the World Turns (1956). She was married to John Georgeson and Ken Sherber. She died on 24 January 2023 in Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA.
- Cinematographer
Dave L'Insurgé was born on 4 July 1987. He was a cinematographer, known for Dave L Insurgé (2020), Yandel artiste (2008) and Le Citoyen Journaliste (2020). He died on 24 January 2023 in Saint-David, Québec, Canada.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Cindy Williams was born Cynthia Jane Williams in Van Nuys, California on August 22, 1947. The Leo was 5'4" and, during her first years on Laverne & Shirley (1976), weighed a dainty 105 lbs. The brown haired, blue-eyed female was born the daughter of Francesca Bellini and Beachard Williams. Her father was an electronic technician, and Cindy grew up in reduced circumstances. She had one sister, Carol Ann Williams, and an older half-brother, Jim from her mother's first marriage.
As a child, she dreamed of being an actress. She used to create and perform her own plays and, as she grew, she wished that one day, Debbie Reynolds would see her in one of those amateur shows and whisk her away and put her in a film. Another thing that brought show business into her life was her alcoholic father's imitations of comics like Jackie Gleason and Milton Berle. She worked as a waitress, while she auditioned for commercials, television guest spots, and feature films. Her first step to fame was a movie in which she tap danced with Gene Kelly. She stepped on Kelly's foot, leaving her "really embarrassed". She landed important film roles early in her career.
Famed director George Cukor cast her in Travels with My Aunt (1972). Her next big role was for George Lucas in American Graffiti (1973), as Ron Howard's girlfriend, for which she earned a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actress. That led to Francis Ford Coppola casting her in The Conversation (1974). The three instant-classic films should have propelled her into movie stardom, but her career inexplicably hit a lull. She couldn't go back to working as a waitress, because she was too well-known.
She was set up in a writing team with Penny Marshall and the girls were called by Penny's brother, Garry Marshall, to do a stint as two fast girls on Happy Days (1974). The public received them so warmly that Cindy and Penny soon got their own show and was referred to everywhere as "Shirley Feeney".
She earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in 1978. She left the show in 1982, pregnant with daughter Emily. She was married to Bill Hudson, who had previously been married to actress Goldie Hawn. Williams later gave birth to a son, Zachary, in 1986. She went on to make a few movies and co-produced "The Father Of The Bride" movies with Hudson. They divorced in 2000.
She did Jenny Craig commercials and acted on guest spots on the TV show For Your Love (1998) and reunited with Penny Marshall several times on television. In 2015, her memoir, Shirley, I Jest! (co-written with Dave Smitherman), was published.
Cindy Williams died, aged 75, following a brief, undisclosed illness, in 2023.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Producer Lary Simpson graduated from the University of Oregon and began his career in Hollywood as a studio attorney for Tri-Star pictures. He later moved on to a high-profile entertainment law firm handling film producers, writers, actors and directors. In 1995 Lary left the law firm to co-produce pictures with his brother, Don Simpson, of the legendary Simpson/Bruckheimer team. When Don passed away a year later, Lary formed his own company to carry on the legacy of his brother's creative endeavors and introduce his personal cinematic visions. Lary Simpson Productions is a film production company with a dynamic slate of projects that range from big-budget commercial pictures to smaller, more character driven independents. Established when Simpson/Bruckheimer Films (Flashdance, Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, The Rock) reorganized in 1996, LSP continues to be involved on select projects with Jerry Bruckheimer Films such as Enemy of the State in 1998 and the upcoming Bad Company (2002), starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock. Over the past five years, in addition to the Simpson/Bruckheimer pictures, the company has carefully assembled a unique array of projects that are currently in active development. Some of these projects include a witty period piece called Bad Boys of Drury Lane, based on award-winning playwright David Grimm's stage play and JackAJack, an animated musical inspired by a Martin Amis short story. The LSP slate rounds out with Mercy a psychological thriller; a CIA action piece set in Hong Kong; The Theory of Everything, an emotional story involving a fugitive father and the lengths he would go for his young son; ZNA, a reality based biotech thriller; The Girl Next Door, a dark coming of age comedy; Wages of Sin, a summer action movie and Blinded by The Light, a romantic comedy.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Mr. Mistretta is a veteran of Broadway, TV, Film and Cabaret performances. He has performed on both coasts in major productions including Evita and Sunset Blvd and the Ace Award-winning Sweeney Todd as Pirelli. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)starred Angela Lansbury and was filmed at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and preserved on video as well. The filming was directed by veteran Terry Hughes of The Golden Girls (1985) fame. His performances of such diverse characters as Gus/Growltiger in 'Cats', Uncle Grahame in 'The Fix', and the Phantom in Ken Hill's version of the American premiere of 'Phantom Of The Opera' garnered the Helen Hayes Award, Boston Theatre Critics Award and the St. Louis Theatre Critics Award.
His home is in New York where he has enjoyed working with the team on Law & Order and with Spike Lee on a New York Knicks commercial. Rob Marshall and Sam Mendes' innovative production of Cabaret took him all over the country twice and then to Tokyo and Broadway. He was born in Brooklyn, New York and has spent most of his professional life between there and Los Angeles. He holds a BFA in Theatre and a BS in Radio/ TV from Ithaca College. His Lecture/Master Class series was lauded throughout the country and he enjoys coaching acting in New York. His journey in the Arts has placed him onstage opposite such major names as Lauren Bacall, Madeline Kahn, Kevin Kline, Mandy Patinkin. Patti LuPone, Bob Gunton, Glenn Close, George Hearn, Dyan Cannon, Audra Macdonald, Mary Louise Parker, Mareitte Hartley, Faith Prince and the incomparable Angela Lansbury. Chris Columbus, Edward Zwick, Dick Wolf, Spike Lee, Terry Hughes, Trevor Nunn, Rob Marshall, Sam Mendes and Hal Prince are among the illustrious directors he has worked with.- Billy Packer was born on 25 February 1940 in Wellsville, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Sixth Man (1997), 1992 NCAA Basketball Tournament (1992) and Magic vs. Bird: The 1979 NCAA Championship Game (1979). He was married to Barbara Ann Sucansky. He died on 26 January 2023 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
London-born Sylvia May Laura Syms hit major film appeal at a relatively young age. Born on January 6, 1934, she was educated at convent schools before receiving dramatic training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her stage debut in a production of "The Apple Cart" in 1954.
A repertory player by the time she was discovered for films by the British star Anna Neagle and her director/husband Herbert Wilcox, the lovely demure blonde started out auspiciously enough in the delinquent film Teenage Bad Girl (1956) in which she played Neagle's troubled daughter. This was followed by a second Neagle/Wilcox collaboration with No Time for Tears (1957).
Excelling whether cast in stark melodrama, spirited adventure or harmless comedy fluff, Syms' film list grew impressive in the late 1950s and early 1960s working alongside the likes of John Mills and Anthony Quayle in Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Curd Jürgens and Orson Welles in Ferry to Hong Kong (1959), Lilli Palmer and Yvonne Mitchell in Conspiracy of Hearts (1960), Laurence Harvey in Expresso Bongo (1959), William Holden in The World of Suzie Wong (1960), and Dirk Bogarde in the landmark gay-themed Victim (1961), playing the unsuspecting wife of Bogarde's closeted male. After nearly a decade's absence, Sylvia returned briefly to the London theatre lights in 1964 to play the title role in "Peter Pan."
Ably portraying innocent love interests throughout the years, she graced a number of pictures without ever nabbing that one role that would truly put her over the top. She was nominated, however, three times for British Film Academy Awards--twice for best actress in Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) and No Trees in the Street (1959) and once for supporting actress in The Tamarind Seed (1974) that starred Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif.
The 1970s saw quite a bit of TV series work and she played British prime minister Margaret Thatcher at one point on both stage and TV. She grew plumper with middle age and found herself immersed in character roles, offering support in such films as Absolute Beginners (1986), Shirley Valentine (1989) and Shining Through (1992).
The stage once again beckoned in the mid-to-late 1980's with touring performances, among many others, in "The Heiress," "The Beaux Stratagem," "The Ideal Husband," "A Doll's House," "Ghosts," "The Vortex," "Hamlet," "Anthony and Cleopatra" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" She portrayed the Queen and Margaret Thatcher in a production of "Ugly Rumours" and was among the cast in a musical presentation of "On the Town" in 2005.
Into the millennium, Sylvia has continued to have remarkable agility. American audiences have recently seen her as the dog-doting "Princess Charlotte" in the light teen comedy What a Girl Wants (2003) with Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth, and treading water as the Shelley Winters character in the TV-remake of The Poseidon Adventure (2005). Other movies have included the role of the Queen Mum in The Queen (2006) starring Oscar-winning Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II, as well as featured roles in Is Anybody There? (2008) starring Michael Caine and Booked Out (2012). She also co-starred opposite Peter Bowles in the heart-warming senior character study Together (2018).
Married once and divorced in the 1980s from Alvin Edney, daughter Beatie Edney (aka Beatrice) is a highly prolific actress in her own right, and her son, Benjamin Edney, was briefly an actor while young and appeared with his mother as her son in the western The Desperados (1969). Ms. Syms is sometimes confused with Brooklyn-born jazz/cabaret performer and recording artist Sylvia Syms (1917-1992) (née Sylvia Blagman).- Actress
- Music Department
Jamuna was born on 30 August 1936 in Hampi, Kingdom of Mysore, British India. She was an actress, known for Milan (1967), Kurukshetramu (1977) and Kurukshetra (1977). She was married to Juluri Ramana Rao. She died on 27 January 2023 in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.- Cinematographer
- Editor
- Camera and Electrical Department
Robert Dalva was born on 14 April 1942 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a cinematographer and editor, known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Jurassic Park III (2001). He was married to Marcia Smith. He died on 27 January 2023 in Marin County, California, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Chiang Ting was born on 26 April 1936 in Zhejiang, China. He was an actor and director, known for Hua hua shi jie (1972), A Dream of Spring (2017) and San bai liu shi yi hang (1974). He was married to Hsuan Li. He died on 27 January 2023 in Taoyuan, Taiwan.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Writer
Lisa Loring was an American actress and former child model. She is primarily known for having played Wednesday Addams in the comedy-horror sitcom "The Addams Family" (1964-1966). The sitcom was the first screen adaptation of the comic strip "The Addams Family" (1938-1988) by Charles Addams, which featured a wealthy aristocratic clan who took delight in the macabre. Wednesday was the perpetually gloomy daughter of the family in the comic strip. Loring's version of the character was sweet-natured, but eccentric. This version of Wednesday owned a collection of decapitated dolls, and named her favorite doll after Marie Antoinette, the executed Queen of France. Wednesday raised spiders as a hobby.
In 1958, Loring was born on the Kwajalein Atoll, the southernmost of the Marshall Islands. The island is located about 2,100 nautical miles (3,900 kilometers; 2,400 miles) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. It has hosted an American naval base since World War II. Her parents were both personnel of the United States Navy. Loring's parents separated shortly after her birth, and Judith Loring (Loring's mother) received custody of Loring. Lisa Loring was initially raised in Hawaii, before moving with her mother to Los Angeles.
In 1961, Loring started working as a child model. She eventually took a few acting roles, and reportedly guest starred in a 1964 episode of the medical drama "Dr. Kildare". When cast to play Wednesday in "The Addams Family", Loring was only 6-years-old. It was her first regular role in television. The series lasted for 2 seasons and 64 episodes, ending in 1966.
Loring was cast in the role of Susan "Suzy" Pruitt in the short-lived sitcom "The Pruitts of Southampton" (1966-1967). The sitcom was the brainchild of David Levy, who had previously produced "The Addams Family". The series used much of the former cast of "The Addams Family". The premise of this sitcom was that the Pruitts were a formerly wealthy family who still lived in an aristocratic mansion in the Hamptons. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had found out about their loss of wealth, but instructed them to maintain their pretensions of great wealth in order to avoid a potential loss of confidence in the financial system. Episodes revolved about the family's efforts to raise money while maintaining secrecy.
In 1973, aged 15, Loring married her boyfriend Farrell Foumberg. She gave birth to her daughter Vanessa that year. The couple divorced in 1974. Judith Loring died in 1974 from alcoholism. Lisa Loring had to provide for herself. She appeared infrequently in television films during the late 1970s. Loring was cast as Wednesday Sr. in the television film "Halloween with the New Addams Family" (1977). Wednesday was depicted in the film as having a look-alike younger sister, known as Wednesday junior (played by Jennifer Surprenant). In 1980, Loring joined the cast of the soap opera "As the World Turns". She portrayed Cricket Montgomery, a half-sister of the regular character Margo Montgomery Hughes. Loring continued appearing in the series until 1984.
In 1981, Loring married the soap opera actor Doug Stevenson. They had daughter Marianne early in their marriage, but received a divorce in 1983. Loring's acting career was in hiatus until she agreed to play in the slasher film "Blood Frenzy" (1987). Its premise was that a killer stalked the patients of psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Shelley (played by Wendy MacDonald) during their trip through a desert. The film's plot reportedly combined plot elements from the earlier films "Ten Little Indians" (1974) and "Friday the 13th" (1980). The film was an early attempt by pornographic film producer Hal Freeman to create his own horror films.
Loring was an uncredited co-writer in the pornographic film "Traci's Big Trick" (1987). She was introduced to porn actor Jerry Butler (born Paul David Siederman; 1959-2018), and they started dating. They were married within 1987, but their relationship was tumultuous. They divorced each other in 1992, following failed a number of failed attempts in reconciliation.
In 1988, Loring co-starred in the slasher film "Iced". Its premise was that a group of old friends has received invitations to a new ski resort. They reunite there, but are stalked by a killer who has mysterious ties to their past. Loring's performance and humorous dialogue were reportedly among the highlight of the film. But the film has a relatively poor reputation among horror fans, due to soap opera-like plot elements and an inconclusive ending to its mystery. It was her last notable role for several years.
By the early 1990s, Loring was feeling depressed due to the decline of her career and her poor relationship with her husband. She tried to self-medicate her condition, leading to a drug addiction. In 1991, Loring was the first person to discover the corpse of her friend Kelly Van Dyke, who had committed suicide by hanging. Loring was in a fragile state of mind. She made a suicide attempt not long after. In 1992, she went to rehab and beat her addiction. She gave a few interviews in the mid-1990s, but semi-retired from acting. She resumed her acting career in the mid-2010s, with appearances in two different horror films. In 2023, Lisa Loring died, aged 64.- Actress
- Producer
Viola Léger was born on June 29, 1930 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, United States but spent most of her life in Canada. One of her best known roles is that of "La Sagouine" written by Antonine Maillet, a role she performed over 2, 500 times, winning rave reviews.
She was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 2001 at the recommendation of then Prime Minister Chrétien, representing L'Acadie, New Brunswick. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989. She was awarded the Order of New Brunswick in 2007.
In 2013, she received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for her work as an actress. She died in New Brunswick, Canada, on January 28, 2023, aged 92.