Thursday, August 9, 2012

Tony Scott obit


Top Gun Director Tony Scott Leaps to Death from Bridge


He was not on the list.


Director Tony Scott, whose box-office hits included Top Gun, Days of Thunder and Beverly Hills Cop II, died after jumping from a bridge in Los Angeles Harbor, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 68.

Witnesses told authorities that Sunday at around 12:35 p.m. the filmmaker left his parked Toyota Prius on the Vincent Thomas Bridge, scaled a fence and then leapt without hesitation. A note with contact information was left in the vehicle, says the newspaper.

Los Angeles Port police pulled his body from the water four hours later. A suicide note was recovered in his office, reports the Times. Its contents have not been disclosed.

The British-born Scott, the younger brother of director-producer Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator), lived in Beverly Hills. He had twin sons with his third wife, actress-model Donna Wilson.

Family spokesman Simon Halls confirmed Scott’s death and said the family requests “that their privacy be respected at this time.”

Ridley and Tony Scott ran Scott Free Productions, whose TV shows include The Good Wife. Tony Scott frequently worked with Denzel Washington, on Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Deja Vu and The Taking of Pelham 123. Most recently they collaborated on Unstoppable.

Scott recently finished shooting the drama Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale.
In a Tweet Sunday, director Ron Howard wrote, “No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day.”

Filmography
Films

Feature films

Year     Title     Director           Producer         Notes
1983    The Hunger     Yes       No       
1986    Top Gun          Yes       No       
1987    Beverly Hills Cop II      Yes       No       
1990    Revenge  (with Madeleine Stowe)        Yes       No       
Days of Thunder          Yes       No       
1991    The Last Boy Scout      Yes       No       
1993    True Romance             Yes       No       
1995    Crimson Tide   Yes       No       
1996    The Fan           Yes       No       
1998    Enemy of the State     Yes       No       
2001    Spy Game        Yes       No       
2004    Man on Fire     Yes       Yes      
2005    Domino           Yes       Yes      
2006    Déjà Vu            Yes       No       
2009    The Taking of Pelham 123      Yes       Yes      
2010    The A-Team     No        Yes      
Unstoppable   Yes       Yes      
2013    Stoker No        Yes       Posthumous release
The East           No        Yes
Out of the Furnace      No        Yes

Short and mid-length films

Year     Title     Director           Screenwriter   Producer         Notes
1969    One of the Missing      Yes       Yes       No        Short. Also cinematographer and editor.
1970    Loving Memory           Yes       Yes       No        Mid-length. Also cinematographer and editor.
1976    The Author of Beltraffio         Yes       No        No        Mid-length. Produced for the French television anthology series Nouvelles de Henry James.
2002    Beat the Devil Yes       No        Yes       Short. Executive producer.
2004    Agent Orange Yes       No        No        Short.
2012    The Polar Bears           No        No        Yes       Short.
Television

    The Hunger (1 episode in 1997 and 1 in 1999)
    AFP: American Fighter Pilot, Executive producer (2002)
    The Gathering Storm, Executive producer (2002)
    Numb3rs, Executive producer (2005–10)
    The Good Wife, Executive producer (2009–12)
    Gettysburg, Executive producer (2011)
    Labyrinth, Executive producer (2012)
    World Without End, Executive producer (2012)
    Killing Lincoln, Executive producer (2013)

Others

Music videos

    "Danger Zone" – Kenny Loggins (1986)
    "One More Try" – George Michael (1988)
    "Father Figure" – George Michael (1987) directed by Andy Morahan, the love scene shot by Tony Scott

Commercials

    DIM Underwear (1979)
    SAAB (1984) “Nothing on Earth Comes Close”
    Player, Achievements and Big Bang for Barclays Bank (2000)
    Telecom Italia (2000) (Starring Marlon Brando and Woody Allen)
    Ice Soldier for US Army (2002)
    One Man, One Land for Marlboro (2003)

Al Freeman Jr. obit

Al Freeman, pioneering black actor, has died

 

He was not on the list.


Emmy-winning actor, director and screenwriter Al Freeman, Jr., who played Capt. Ed Hall on “One Life to Live” for more than a decade, and Elijah Muhammad in Spike Lee’s 1992 film “Malcolm X,” has died.

Freeman, 78, lived on a boat outside of Washington, D.C. and taught at Howard University.

“It is with tremendous sadness that the passing of our beloved Professor Al Freeman, Jr. is confirmed,” Kim James Bey, chair of Howard University’s theater department, told the Star Tribune Friday afternoon.

Freeman was best known for his screen roles. He appeared on such programs as "Roots," “The Cosby Show,” “Law and Order” and “Homicide: Life on the Streets.” He won Emmys for “One Life to Live” and “Malcolm X." He also won an NAACP Image Award for his Elijah Muhammad.

Freeman first gained acclaim for his stage work in Amiri Baraka’s “Dutchman,” in a 1967 off-Broadway production. He played a black subway rider who is tormented by a white woman. He reprised his performance on screen in a movie adaptation.

On Broadway, he acted alongside legendary choreographer Alvin Ailey and acting icon Cicely Tyson in Peter S. Feibleman’s “Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright” in 1962. Two years later, he starred in James Baldwin’s “Blues for Mister Charlie,” under the direction of Burgess Meredith.

Born in San Antonio, Tex., Freeman served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Afterwards, he embarked on an acting career that was inspiring to many in the field.

"At a time when we rarely saw black actors on TV, he was on a soap," said Ralph Remington, director of theater and musical theater at the National Endowment for the Arts and founder of Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis. "He was well-known and all over the TV. "He was legendary for his contributions."

 

Selected filmography

 

 

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1958            Torpedo Run   Sam Baker            Uncredited

1960    This Rebel Breed            Satchel

1961    Sniper's Ridge   Medic Gwathney        

1964    Black Like Me            Thomas Newcomb       

1964    The Troublemaker            Intern

1964    Ensign Pulver   Taru    

1966    For Pete's Sake     

1967            Dutchman         Clay    

1968    The Detective            Robbie

1968    Finian's Rainbow            Howard         

1969    The Lost Man            Dennis Lawrence        

1969    Castle Keep    Pvt. Allistair Piersall Benjamin         

1970    My Sweet Charlie            Charles Roberts           

1971    A Fable    The Leader

1972    To Be Young, Gifted and Black                    

1988    Seven Hours to Judgment            Danny Larwin 

1992            Malcolm X      Elijah Muhammad     

1994    Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker            Old Johnson Whittaker        

1995    Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored            Poppa 

1998    Down in the Delta            Earl Sinclair

Television

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1967    The Edge of Night            Assistant District Attorney Ben Lee     

1968    The FBI      Alan Harmon            1 episode

1969    Judd for the Defense            Jeff Jones    1 episode

1972    Mod Squad  Jessie Cook   1 episode

1972-1988            One Life to Live            Captain Ed Hall

1974    Maude            Roy            1 episode

1975    Hot l Baltimore            Charles Bingham            Main role

1976    Kojak            Donald Mosher            1 episode

1978    King            Damon Lockwood      

1979    Roots: The Next Generations            Malcolm X     

1990    Law and Order            Reverend Thayer            1 episode

1995-1996            Homicide: Life on the Street   Deputy Commissioner James Harris    

2004    Law and Order            Stan Wallace            1 episode

Mel Stuart obit

Mel Stuart, Documentarian and ‘Willy Wonka’ Director, Dies at 83

 

He was not on the list.


The largest part of Mel Stuart's prodigious output as a film director and producer was in documentary, where he won several Emmys and was Oscar-nominated; but his best-known venture was the musical-fantasy Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Stuart's daughter Madeleine adored Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – and begged her father to film it. She was rewarded with a tiny role, while her brother David played the bigger role of Winkelmann. Dahl found it difficult to rethink the story cinematically, and though he was credited with the screenplay, it was largely the work of David Seltzer. Dahl later disowned it and refused to release the film rights to the sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

In the first edition of the book, Wonka's workers, the Oompa-Loompas, were black pygmies, but subsequent editions changed them to blondes – and in the film they were orange with green hair. Stuart also claimed that he changed the title when he was told that the name Charlie was associated with plantation owners, though he felt his title sounded better in any case. However, it may have had more to do with the fact that the film was funded by the Quaker Oats Company, who were making the tie-in Wonka Bar, though it was later licenced to Nestlé.

Though Gene Wilder was far from first choice to play Wonka (Dahl initially wanted Spike Milligan, then Ron Moody), he brilliantly captures the character's ambiguity – warm and yet unsettling. He insisted on his bizarre entrance, in which he gradually loses an affected limp via a forward roll, so that the audience can never be entirely sure if he is telling the truth. Stuart accepted the idea, but filmed a "straight" entrance as well, just in case. Fortunately, the studio preferred Wilder's version. Nevertheless, the film was not a success: Variety thought it "okay", but (not entirely unfairly) found Wonka himself "cynical and sadistic". It was only later that the public gave it its popularity.

Stuart was the son of a hat-store-owning history fan. When and why he changed his name from Stuart Solomon isn't clear. He intended to become a composer, but after New York University he ended up working for an advertising agency. There he met Mary Ellen Bute, who was working on a series of experimental animated films set to classical music. In the late 1950s, after assisting her, he became a film researcher on CBS's epic series The Twentieth Century, which was fronted by Walter Cronkite.

In 1959 David L Wolper invited Stuart to join him as a documentary producer. He stayed until 1977, when he set up on his own. Stuart made around 180 films, often on the arts, history and the US Presidency. Notable subjects tackled in 1962 alone included writer Ray Bradbury, controversial New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Hollywood: the Fabulous Era and D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Stuart found the Kennedy era particularly fascinating and based two Emmy-winning films on Theodore H White's books The Making of the President, 1960 (1963) and, six years later, The Making of the President, 1968. JFK's assassination was the subject of the Oscar-nominated Four Days in November (1964); and The Journey of Robert F Kennedy charted his brother's life. In 1978 Stuart returned to the era with the TV movie Ruby and Oswald, starring Michael Lerner and Frederic Forrest. Theodore White also wrote the Emmy-winning hardline Cold War documentary China: the Roots of Madness (1967).

Stuart was Emmy-nominated for Life Goes to the Movies (1976), critic Richard Schickel's study of Hollywood in the middle of the 20th century, and Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde (1997). As a producer, he gave William Friedkin his first credits before he moved from documentary into fiction.

Wattstax (1973) mixed street interviews and Stax Records' concert for the Watts riots to examine a tense moment in US race relations, and garnered a Golden Globe nomination.

Stuart's other fiction films include the comedy If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969), in which Ian McShane plays a guide with a girl in every city, leading a whirlwind European bus tour for American tourists. The following year's more serious I Love My Wife starred Elliott Gould as a surgeon who, despite a successful career and happy marriage, embarks on a series of ennui-fuelled affairs. In the equally serious One is a Lonely Number (1972), a young woman comes to terms with divorce from a man she later discovers was unfaithful. The TV movie Bill (1981) starred Mickey Rooney as a man who is released from many years in an asylum to live with a kindly family. Three-times Golden Globes-nominated, it picked up trophies for script and Rooney himself.

Stuart gradually returned to documentary via fact-based dramas such as The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal (1979), about a 1911 New York fire that led to improved health and safety legislation. After occasional episodic drama, including 1983's ill-fated Casablanca TV series with David Soul, and the pioneer-family drama series The Chisholms, he returned to documentary proper with films on famous poets, natural history and cinema.

Mel Stuart (Stuart Solomon), film director and producer: born Manhattan 2 September 1928; married first 1956 Harriet Rosalind Dolin (divorced, three children); second Roberta Silberman (died 2011); died Beverly Hills 9 August 2012.

Director

Shakespeare in Watts (2013)

Shakespeare in Watts

Short

Director

2013

 

The Mystery of Sleep (2010)

The Mystery of Sleep

6.0

Director

2010

 

The Hobart Shakespeareans (2005)

The Hobart Shakespeareans

8.4

TV Movie

Director

2005

 

Louise Glück: The Poet's View

Video

Director

2004

 

John Ashbery: The Poet's View

Video

Director

2003

 

Call of the Wild: Sex in the Animal Kingdom (2003)

Call of the Wild: Sex in the Animal Kingdom

5.0

Video

Director

2003

 

W. S. Merwin: The Poet's View

Video

Director

2003

 

Still Perfect: 20 Unforgettable Photographs

TV Movie

Director

2002

 

Seeing Stars... with Hy Gardner

TV Movie

Director

2001

 

Anthony Hecht: The Poet's View

Video

Director

2001

 

BBC: A Window on the World

6.9

TV Movie

Director

2001

 

Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135 (2000)

Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135

7.4

Director

2000

 

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: The Wilder Shores of Love

8.0

TV Movie

Director

1998

 

American Masters (1985)

American Masters

8.2

TV Series

Director

1997–1998

2 episodes

 

Unclaimed Fortunes

TV Movie

Director

1989

 

With Peter Beard in Africa: Last Word from Paradise

Director

1988

 

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (1987)

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond

6.7

TV Movie

Director

1987

 

Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1982)

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

7.7

TV Series

Director

1983–1984

5 episodes

 

Casablanca (1983)

Casablanca

5.5

TV Series

Director

1983

1 episode

 

The White Lions (1981)

The White Lions

5.5

Director

1981

 

Sophia Loren: Her Own Story (1980)

Sophia Loren: Her Own Story

6.5

TV Movie

Director

1980

 

The Chisholms (1979)

The Chisholms

7.1

TV Series

Director

1979–1980

9 episodes

 

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal (1979)

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal

6.8

TV Movie

Director

1979

 

Mean Dog Blues (1978)

Mean Dog Blues

6.1

Director

1978

 

Frederic Forrest in Ruby and Oswald (1978)

Ruby and Oswald

5.8

TV Movie

Director

1978

 

Welcome Back, Kotter (1975)

Welcome Back, Kotter

7.1

TV Series

Director

1977

1 episode

 

Life Goes to the Movies

7.7

TV Movie

Director

1976

 

Brenda Starr (1976)

Brenda Starr

5.6

TV Movie

Director

1976

 

Up from the Ape (1975)

Up from the Ape

8.7

Director

1975

 

Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love! (1974)

Get Christie Love!

6.4

TV Series

Director

1974

2 episodes

 

Love from A to Z

7.4

TV Movie

Director

1974

 

Wattstax (1973)

Wattstax

7.6

Director

1973

 

Diane Baker and Larry Hagman in Here We Go Again (1973)

Here We Go Again

6.9

TV Series

Director

1973

 

One Is a Lonely Number (1972)

One Is a Lonely Number

6.1

Director

1972

 

Gene Wilder, Paris Themmen, Jack Albertson, Rudy Borgstaller, George Claydon, Julie Dawn Cole, Malcolm Dixon, Walker Edmiston, Günter Meisner, Denise Nickerson, and Peter Ostrum in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

7.8

Director

1971

 

Elliott Gould, Angel Tompkins, and Brenda Vaccaro in I Love My Wife (1970)

I Love My Wife

4.9

Director

1970

 

The Unfinished Journey of Robert Kennedy

7.8

TV Movie

Director

1970

 

Making of the President 1968 (1969)

Making of the President 1968

8.4

TV Movie

Director

1969

 

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

6.3

Director

1969

 

Sophia: A Self-Portrait

7.8

TV Movie

Director

1968

 

A Nation of Immigrants (1967)

A Nation of Immigrants

TV Movie

Director

1967

 

China: Roots of Madness (1967)

China: Roots of Madness

8.0

TV Movie

Director

1967

 

The Making of a President: 1964 (1966)

The Making of a President: 1964

7.9

TV Movie

Director

1966

 

Wall Street: Where the Money Is

TV Movie

Director

1966

 

The Way Out Men

TV Movie

Director

1965

 

John F. Kennedy in Four Days in November (1964)

Four Days in November

7.5

Director

1964

 

Hollywood and the Stars (1963)

Hollywood and the Stars

8.2

TV Series

Director

1964

1 episode

 

The Making of the President 1960 (1963)

The Making of the President 1960

7.7

Director

1963

 

Willie Davis in Biography of a Rookie: The Willie Davis Story (1963)

Biography of a Rookie: The Willie Davis Story

9.6

TV Movie

Director

1963

 

Grace Kelly in Biography (1961)

Biography

8.2

TV Series

Director

1962

1 episode

 

Walter Matthau and Frank McGee in The DuPont Show of the Week (1961)

The DuPont Show of the Week

6.1

TV Series

Director

1962

1 episode

 

D-Day June 6, 1944 (1962)

D-Day June 6, 1944

TV Movie

Director

1962

 

The Rafer Johnson Story

TV Movie

Director

1961

 

Writer

The Mystery of Sleep (2010)

The Mystery of Sleep

6.0

Writer

2010

 

Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1982)

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

7.7

TV Series

written by

1982–1985

5 episodes

 

Welcome Back, Kotter (1975)

Welcome Back, Kotter

7.1

TV Series

written by

1977

1 episode

 

A Nation of Immigrants (1967)

A Nation of Immigrants

TV Movie

Writer

1967

 

Story of... (1962)

Story of...

TV Series

Writer

1962–1963

2 episodes

 

D-Day June 6, 1944 (1962)

D-Day June 6, 1944

TV Movie

Writer

1962

 

Producer

The Mystery of Sleep (2010)

The Mystery of Sleep

6.0

producer

2010

 

Acting Normal

Short

producer

2009

 

The Hobart Shakespeareans (2005)

The Hobart Shakespeareans

8.4

TV Movie

producer

2005

 

Louise Glück: The Poet's View

Video

producer

2004

 

John Ashbery: The Poet's View

Video

producer

2003

 

Call of the Wild: Sex in the Animal Kingdom (2003)

Call of the Wild: Sex in the Animal Kingdom

5.0

Video

producer

2003

 

W. S. Merwin: The Poet's View

Video

producer

2003

 

Still Perfect: 20 Unforgettable Photographs

TV Movie

producer

2002

 

Seeing Stars... with Hy Gardner

TV Movie

producer

2001

 

Anthony Hecht: The Poet's View

Video

producer

2001

 

BBC: A Window on the World

6.9

TV Movie

producer

2001

 

Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135 (2000)

Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135

7.4

producer

2000

 

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: In Search of

5.7

TV Special

co-executive producer

1998

 

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: The Wilder Shores of Love

8.0

TV Movie

co-executive producer

1998

 

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: Against the Grain

7.9

TV Movie

co-executive producer

1998

 

American Masters (1985)

American Masters

8.2

TV Series

producer

1997–1998

2 episodes

 

Best of the Worst

8.1

TV Series

producer

1991

 

Unclaimed Fortunes

TV Movie

producer

1989

 

With Peter Beard in Africa: Last Word from Paradise

producer

1988

 

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond (1987)

Happy Anniversary 007: 25 Years of James Bond

6.7

TV Movie

producer

1987

 

Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1982)

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

7.7

TV Series

executive producer

producer

1982–1985

9 episodes

 

The Future: What's Next?

TV Series

producer

1981

1 episode

 

Bill (1981)

Bill

7.9

TV Movie

producer (produced by)

1981

 

Leonard Nimoy in In Search of... (1976)

In Search of...

8.4

TV Series

producer

1979

1 episode

 

Welcome Back, Kotter (1975)

Welcome Back, Kotter

7.1

TV Series

producer

1977

1 episode

 

Life Goes to the Movies

7.7

TV Movie

producer

1976

 

Flight: The Sky's the Limit

TV Movie

producer

1975

 

Up from the Ape (1975)

Up from the Ape

8.7

producer

1975

 

Birds Do It, Bees Do It (1974)

Birds Do It, Bees Do It

6.6

executive producer

1974

 

Wattstax (1973)

Wattstax

7.6

producer (produced by)

1973

 

Here Comes Tomorrow: The Fear Fighters

TV Movie

executive producer

1972

 

Making of the President 1968 (1969)

Making of the President 1968

8.4

TV Movie

producer

1969

 

Sophia: A Self-Portrait

7.8

TV Movie

producer

1968

 

Adolf Hitler in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1968)

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

7.9

TV Movie

executive producer

1968

 

A Nation of Immigrants (1967)

A Nation of Immigrants

TV Movie

executive producer

producer

1967

 

China: Roots of Madness (1967)

China: Roots of Madness

8.0

TV Movie

producer

1967

 

The Making of a President: 1964 (1966)

The Making of a President: 1964

7.9

TV Movie

producer

1966

 

Wall Street: Where the Money Is

TV Movie

producer

1966

 

Revolution in the 3 R'S

8.7

TV Movie

executive producer

series producer

1966

 

The Thin Blue Line (1966)

The Thin Blue Line

6.4

TV Movie

executive producer

series producer

1966

 

Time-Life Specials: The March of Time (1965)

Time-Life Specials: The March of Time

7.0

TV Series

producer

1965–1966

 

In Search of Man

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon

6.9

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

Barry Brown in The Teenage Revolution (1965)

The Teenage Revolution

7.5

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

Prelude to War: Beginning of World War II

6.4

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

The Bold Men (1965)

The Bold Men

7.3

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

The Way Out Men

TV Movie

executive producer

producer

1965

 

Revolution in Our Time

TV Movie

executive producer

1965

 

John F. Kennedy in Four Days in November (1964)

Four Days in November

7.5

producer

1964

 

Krebiozen and Cancer: Thirteen Years of Bitter Conflict

TV Movie

producer

1964

 

Hollywood and the Stars (1963)

Hollywood and the Stars

8.2

TV Series

producer

1964

1 episode

 

Story of a Rodeo Cowboy (1963)

Story of a Rodeo Cowboy

6.5

Short

executive producer

1963

 

Story of... (1962)

Story of...

TV Series

executive producer

series producer

producer

1962–1963

6 episodes

 

The Making of the President 1960 (1963)

The Making of the President 1960

7.7

producer

1963

 

Willie Davis in Biography of a Rookie: The Willie Davis Story (1963)

Biography of a Rookie: The Willie Davis Story

9.6

TV Movie

producer

1963

 

Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963)

Hollywood: The Great Stars

5.1

TV Movie

producer

1963

 

Lauren Bacall, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Alan Ladd, and Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood: The Fabulous Era (1962)

Hollywood: The Fabulous Era

7.2

TV Movie

executive producer

1962

 

D-Day June 6, 1944 (1962)

D-Day June 6, 1944

TV Movie

producer

1962

 

The Rafer Johnson Story

TV Movie

producer

1961

 

Production Manager

Pro Football: Mayhem on a Sunday Afternoon

6.9

TV Movie

production supervisor

1965

 

Hollywood and the Stars (1963)

Hollywood and the Stars

8.2

TV Series

production supervisor

1963

1 episode

 

Hollywood: The Golden Years

8.0

TV Movie

production supervisor

1961

 

Second Unit or Assistant Director

Ripley's Believe It or Not! (1982)

Ripley's Believe It or Not!

7.7

TV Series

segment director

1984–1985

4 episodes

 

Editorial Department

The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (1981)

The 53rd Annual Academy Awards

6.4

TV Special

film montage (segment "'Hooray for Hollywood'")

1981

 

Additional Crew

The 51st Annual Academy Awards (1979)

The 51st Annual Academy Awards

6.9

TV Special

director: tribute to Laurence Olivier

1979

 

Visions of Eight (1973)

Visions of Eight

6.8

titles

1973

 

Men from Boys: The First Eight Weeks

TV Movie

researcher

1968

 

Race for the Moon (1965)

Race for the Moon

7.2

TV Movie

production executive

1965

 

Krebiozen and Cancer: Thirteen Years of Bitter Conflict

TV Movie

production advisor

1964

 

The Race for Space

6.4

TV Movie

film researcher

1959

 

Elvis Presley in The Twentieth Century (1957)

The Twentieth Century

8.2

TV Series

film research

1957

1 episode

 

Project Twenty (1954)

Project Twenty

8.2

TV Series

researcher

1956

1 episode

 

Producers' Showcase (1954)

Producers' Showcase

7.1

TV Series

researcher

1955

1 episode

 

Thanks

Gonzo (2008)

Gonzo

7.6

thanks

2008

 

Tom DiNardo in Citizen Candy Man: A Chocumentary (2005)

Citizen Candy Man: A Chocumentary

6.1

Short

everlasting thanks

2005

 

Independent's Day (1998)

Independent's Day

6.1

TV Movie

thank you

1998

 

The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971)

The Hellstrom Chronicle

7.3

special thanks

1971

 

Self

Pritan Ambroase in Hollywood Insider (2018)

Hollywood Insider

3.2

TV Series

Self

2021

1 episode

 

Marion Dougherty in Casting By (2012)

Casting By

7.6

Self

2012

 

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself (2012)

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself

7.3

Self

2012

 

Hollywood Treasure (2010)

Hollywood Treasure

7.7

TV Series

Self

2011

1 episode

 

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (2010)

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story

7.1

Self

2010

 

Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1970's (2009)

Hollywood Singing & Dancing: A Musical History - 1970's

7.7

Video

Self

2009

 

LDN Wrestling: Legends Showdown I

Video

Self

2008

 

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical Treasure (2008)

Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical Treasure

7.5

TV Movie

Self

2008

 

The 100 Greatest Family Films (2005)

The 100 Greatest Family Films

7.2

TV Movie

Self

2005

 

Best Ever Family Films

4.5

TV Movie

Self

2005

 

Gene Wilder, Paris Themmen, Michael Bollner, Julie Dawn Cole, Denise Nickerson, and Peter Ostrum in After They Were Famous (1999)

After They Were Famous

7.4

TV Series

Self

2003

1 episode

 

The 100 Greatest Musicals (2003)

The 100 Greatest Musicals

4.9

TV Movie

Self

2003

 

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Pure Imagination: The Story of 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'

7.7

Video

Self

2001

 

John Matuszak in Hollywood Beat (1993)

Hollywood Beat

TV Series

1993–2005

 

Archive Footage

Gene Wilder in Remembering Gene Wilder (2023)

Remembering Gene Wilder

7.8

Self - Director (archive footage)

2023

 

TCM Remembers 2012

Music Video

Self

director (archive footage)

2012

Carl Davis obit

Chicago Soul Icon Carl Davis Passes On 

He was not on the list.


Davis was an American record producer and music executive, who was particularly active in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s. He was responsible for hit R&B records by Gene Chandler, Major Lance, Jackie Wilson, The Chi-Lites, Barbara Acklin, Tyrone Davis and others.

Davis was born in Chicago and attended Englewood High School. He began working as an assistant to disc jockey Al Benson on radio station WGES in 1955, and then joined a record marketing company. In the early 1960s, he helped run the small Nat record label which had a local hit with the song "Nite Owl" by the DuKays, produced by Davis. A follow-up release, "Duke of Earl", which Davis also produced, was credited to the group's lead singer Gene Chandler, and became a national no. 1 hit after being leased to the larger Vee-Jay label.

In 1962, Davis began working as a producer and A&R director for the Columbia subsidiary label OKeh, where he produced a number of hit records for Major Lance, Billy Butler and Walter Jackson. Many were characterised as "peppy, brassy arrangements... and danceable, upbeat songs with a Latin tinge,"[2] often using songs written by Curtis Mayfield that Mayfield felt were inappropriate for his own group, The Impressions. He also continued to produce records for Gene Chandler and The Artistics, and briefly produced Mary Wells after she left Motown.

In the mid-1960s, he began working for Brunswick Records, where he produced Jackie Wilson's comeback hit, "Whispers" and the million-seller, "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher", Barbara Acklin's "Love Makes a Woman", as well as several early hits by The Chi-Lites. He also formed the Dakar label, which had a long run of hits with Tyrone Davis (no relation), including "Can I Change My Mind" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time," and also found success with Hamilton Bohannon.

When the Dakar label folded in 1976, Davis formed Chi Sound Records, continuing to find success with Walter Jackson and having a major hit single in 1978 with Gene Chandler's "Get Down". After a distribution deal with 20th Century Records ended in 1981, Davis used independent distribution for two years before closing Chi Sound down. The company had a brief revival in 1989–90, before re-opening in 2007 and remained active until Davis' death. On February 11, 2013, Carl Davis was honored during the 55th Grammy Awards, along with several other music business personalities in the memorial pictorial tribute.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Sancho Gracia obit

Spanish Actor  Sancho Gracia Has Died

He was not on the list.


Born in Madrid, Gracia started his acting career in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he lived from 1947 until 1961. In Montevideo he was a student of Margarita Xirgu. He made his movie acting debut in France in the 1963 film L'Autre femme opposite Annie Girardot. Since then he has appeared in more than eighty motion pictures including several Hollywood productions during the 1970s and in 1999's Outlaw Justice with Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. Gracia also worked in Australia, performing as a regular cast member in the 1982 television series, Runaway Island and in the 1991 made-for-TV film, Pirates Island. He also participated in the Oscar-nominated Mexican film The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002).

In 2003, he was nominated for the Goya Award for Best Actor for his performance in the 2002 film 800 Bullets.

In addition to motion pictures, Sancho Gracia made more than sixty guest appearances on Spanish television shows. He became famous in Spain for the role of Curro Jiménez, in the Televisión Española drama series of the same name, that was broadcast from 1976 to 1979, being rebroadcast several times since then.

In 1969, Sancho Gracia married Noelia Aguirre Gomensoro, the daughter of an Uruguayan National Party politician, whom with he had three children, including Rodolfo. During the shooting of the film 100 Rifles in Spain in 1968, Gracia had an affair with American actress Raquel Welch, who at the time was married to producer Patrick Curtis. Welch's husband, upon finding out about the affair, chased Gracia at gunpoint through the hotel where they were staying in Aguadulce.

He died of lung cancer on 8 August 2012 in Madrid.

 

Selected filmography

 

Vampiresas 1930 (1962) - Negra de la orquesta

A Nearly Decent Girl (1963) - Amigote de Carlos

L'autre femme (1964)

Murieta (1965) - Bandido de Murrieta (uncredited)

El Zorro cabalga otra vez (1965) - Juan

Sheriff Won't Shoot (1965) - Sam, Handsome Bandit

In a Colt's Shadow (1965) - Saloon Gunslinger (uncredited)

Operation Poker (1965) - John Parker

La ciudad no es para mí (1966) - Dr. Ricardo Torres

He's My Man! (1966) - Jefe banda Sing-Sing

Los duendes de Andalucía (1966) - Simon Legrand

Per il gusto di uccidere (1966) - Bill Kilpatrick

Las viudas (1966) - Joven seductor (segment "El Aniversario")

Fray Torero (1966) - Antonio

Road to Rocío (1966) - Médico

Savage Pampas (1966) - Carlos

Espi... ando (1966)

¿Qué hacemos con los hijos? (1967) - José

Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! (1967) - Willy

Club de solteros (1967) - Tomás

Run Like a Thief (1967) - Wes

The House of 1,000 Dolls (1967) - Fernando

La chica de los anuncios (1968) - Teddy

100 Rifles (1969) - Mexican Leader (uncredited)

Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969) - Miguel

Simón Bolívar (1969) - Cardona

El último día de la guerra (1970) - Pvt. Martínez

Rain for a Dusty Summer (1971) - Humberto Pro

Antony and Cleopatra (1972) - Canidius

The Call of the Wild (1972) - Taglish Charlie

El espectro del terror (1973) - Doctor

Dick Turpin (1974) - Richard

País S.A. (1975) - Actores invitados

Guerreras verdes (1976) - Sargento Saez

Avisa a Curro Jiménez (1978) - Curro Jiménez

Él y él (1980) - Alberto

Marbella, un golpe de cinco estrellas (1985) - Police Inspector Vargas

The Witching Hour (1985) - Rubén Blázquez y Delgado de Aguilera

De tripas corazón (1985) - Arturo

Freckled Max and the Spooks (1987) - Prokurator

Gallego (1988)

Love, Hate and Death (1989) - Antonio Montoya

Tango (1991) - Marcos

Huidos (1993) - Juan

Tocando fondo (1993) - Bartolo

Cachito (1996) - Rafael

Martín (hache) (1997) - José M.ª Navarro

The Naked Eye (1998) - Ignacio

Dying of Laughter (1999) - Legionario brutal

Inferno (1999) - Muñoz

A galope tendido (2000) - Tío Boni

La comunidad (2000) - Castro

No te fallaré (2001) - Sandro

¡Hasta aquí hemos llegado! (2002) - Lago

The Crime of Father Amaro (2002) - Padre Benito Díaz

Box 507 (2002) - Santos Guijuelo

El robo más grande jamás contado (2002) - Fernando Baeza "Garganta Profunda"

800 Bullets (2002) - Julián

El oro de Moscú (2003) - Teniente de la Guardia Civil

El furgón (2003) - El Manco

El Cid: The Legend (2003) - Gormaz (voice)

Love by Mistake (2004) - Manolo

Mala uva (2004) - César

R2 y el caso del cadáver sin cabeza (2005) - Inspector jefe

Bailando chachacha (2005)

La bicicleta (2006) - Mario

Los mánagers (2006) - Josete

Donkey Xote (2007) - Sansón Carrasco / Siniestro (voice)

Barreiros, motor humano (2008) - (voice)

7 pasos y medio (2009) - Antonio

The Last Circus (2010) - Coronel Salcedo

Entrelobos (2010) - Atanasio