Leonard Kornberg obit

Leonard Kornberg, Longtime Studio Executive and Story Analyst, Dies at 75

He worked on 'Paddington,' 'The Mummy,' 'King Kong,' 'Hacksaw Ridge' and 'Psycho,' among other projects.

 

He was not on the list.

Leonard Kornberg, a longtime studio executive, story analyst and teacher who worked on Paddington, The Mummy, King Kong, Hacksaw Ridge and Psycho, among other projects, died on Jan. 3. He was 75.

Kornberg began his career in Hollywood in the early 1980s as a story analyst at Carson Productions. He later held analyst roles at Fox and Universal before being promoted at Universal to director of development, vice president of production and ultimately senior vice president of production, helping shepherd several projects from script to screen.

In 2001, Kornberg was diagnosed with Adult Polyglucosan Body Disease (APBD), a rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder. As a result, his mobility started to decline; however, instead of stepping away from his career, he adapted his work.

He later returned to story analysis at Universal and, despite becoming bed-bound due to his diagnosis, contributed as an uncredited producer and consulting producer for Canal Plus.

Throughout his career, he worked on numerous films, including Cop and a Half (1993), The River Wild (1994), The Hunted, (1995), Flipper (1996), The Jackal (1997), Psycho (1998), Virus (1999), Life (1999), Dudley Do-Right (1999), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), The Scorpion King (2002), Sahara (2005), King Kong (2005), And Soon the Darkness (2010), The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), Serena (2014), Paddington (2014), A War (2015), Paddington 2 (2017), The Mercy (2018), Radioactive (2019), The Secret Garden (2020), Retribution (2023) and Paddington in Peru (2024), among others. He also served as executive producer on 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge.

Outside his industry work, he also taught script analysis for producers at USC’s Stark Producing Program.

Kornberg held degrees from Hamilton College, Middlebury College and San Francisco State University.

He is survived by his wife, Kit Hellman; his brother, Broadway publicist Richard Kornberg; his son, Sam Kornberg; his daughter-in-law, Kimberly Kornberg; his granddaughter, Harper; his daughter, Kate Kornberg; her husband, Matthieu Vahanian; and their children, Emile and Lucy.

Elbert Leon Kimbrough obit

Elbert Leon Kimbrough

 

He was not on the list.

Elbert Leon Kimbrough, 87, passed away peacefully on January 2, 2026, surrounded by family.

Born on March 24, 1938, in Galesburg, Illinois, Elbert grew up alongside his twin brother, Albert. From an early age, he was a gifted athlete and later achieved recognition and success in the world of professional sports.

However, Elbert’s greatest love and devotion were to his Creator and Heavenly Father, Jehovah. He was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1967 and remained steadfast in his faith. He regarded his service to Jehovah as his greatest accomplishment.

On August 23, 1959, Elbert married his childhood sweetheart, Sherri Lynn Jackson. They shared a devoted marriage and celebrated 50 years together in 2009 before her passing.

Elbert lived for many years in Oakland and Fremont, California, as well as Paterson, New Jersey. After his football career, he worked as a businessman, insurance agent, and entrepreneur. In retirement, he continued giving back by serving as a substitute teacher.

Elbert was preceded in death by his parents, Gladys and Raymond Kimbrough; and his siblings Nancy Kimbrough, Laura Ann (Kimbrough) Bryant, Lois Kimbrough, Raymond “John” Kimbrough, Jr., Kenneth Kimbrough, and Albert Kimbrough.

He is survived by his sister, Patricia (Michael) Coleman; his children Brant (Maudellyn) Kimbrough, Dee Dee Kimbrough, Channing Kimbrough, Whitney Kimbrough, and Amber Kimbrough (Robert Zaremba); eight grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial services will be held on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 201 N. Linwood Rd., Galesburg, IL.

Career information

High school     Galesburg (IL)

College            Northwestern

NFL draft        1961: 2nd round, 18th overall pick

AFL draft        1961: 4th round, 29th overall pick

Career history

Los Angeles Rams (1961)

San Francisco 49ers (1962–1966)

New Orleans Saints (1968)

Awards and highlights

First-team All-Big Ten (1960)

Second-team All-Big Ten (1959)

Career NFL statistics

Interceptions    9

Fumble recoveries       8

Sacks   2.0

Johnny Legend obit

Johnny Legend Has Died

 He was not on the list.

RIP Johnny Legend, Rockabilly Musician, Director & Wrestling Manager

Johnny Legend & His Skullcaps

My Breakfast with Blassie, w/ Andy Kaufman and  Freddie Blassie

Incredibly Strange Wrestling

Bride of Re-Animator, Children of the Corn III, Man on the Moon.

Legend was born in San Fernando, California on October 3, 1948. In 1981, Legend and Linda Lautrec saw My Dinner With Andre. The two thought of spoofing the film and in 1982, the couple produced, wrote and, together with Mark Shepard, directed My Breakfast with Blassie, starring comedian Andy Kaufman and wrestling manager Freddie Blassie. Legend's sister Lynne Margulies, who also appeared in the film, subsequently became Kaufman's girlfriend.

In 1995, Legend co-founded Incredibly Strange Wrestling, a wrestling promotion active in San Francisco until the early 2000s.

In 2000, January 14 to 20, Legend did a week showing films at the Clinton St. Theater in Portland, Oregon. Among the features he presented were, The Sadist, The T.A.M.I Show, My Breakfast with Blassie, Two Thousand Maniacs!, and more.

Legend died from complications of a stroke and heart failure in Newport, Oregon, on January 2, 2026, at the age of 77.

Filmography

The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet (1969)

The Cat Ate The Parakeet (AKA Pot, Parents And Police) (1972) (As Martin Margulies)

Sexual Sensory Perception (1975)

Young, Hot 'N' Nasty Teenage Cruisers (1977)

Fantasm Comes Again (1977) (As Martin Margulies)

My Breakfast with Blassie (1983) (With Andy Kaufman)

Prison Ship (1988)

Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

Severed Ties (1992)

Children of the Corn III (1995)

Bug Buster (1998)

Man on the Moon (1999)

Skinwalker – Curse of the Shaman (2005)

Con Pederson obit

Con Pederson, CGI Pioneer and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Visual Effects Artist, Dies at 91

He and Douglas Trumbull went from creating a short film for the 1964 World’s Fair to working many exacting months on the Stanley Kubrick classic: The film "absolutely would not have happened without Con.” 

He was not on the list.

Con Pederson, the CGI pioneer who spent two and a half years alongside Douglas Trumbull creating the dazzling Oscar-winning visual effects for the Stanley Kubrick masterwork 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died. He was 91.

Pederson had Alzheimer’s and died Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his son, Eric Pederson, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Two-time Oscar-winning VFX artist John Nelson noted in a statement that Pederson “could animate by hand and could program the computer to do animation that normal programs could not achieve. He was a Renaissance man and an artist.”

While working for Southern California-based Graphic Films, which produced content for NASA, Pederson wrote and directed To the Moon and Beyond, a 15-minute film narrated by Rod Serling that screened at the Transportation and Travel Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. (Trumbull, hired by Pederson a few years earlier, painted a rotating spiral galaxy for the project.)

Kubrick saw To the Moon and Beyond and invited Pederson to his Manhattan apartment to read the script and view storyboards for 2001: A Space Odyssey. He and Trumball were hired in summer 1965 to go to England, and they worked on the movie through March 1968.

As one of four special photographic effects supervisors credited on the 1968 classic — Trumbull, Wally Veevers and Tom Howard were the others — Pederson helped create stars, planets, spaceships and the unforgettable five-minute Star Gate sequence.

Kubrick would receive the Academy Award for special effects in 1969, the only Oscar of his sterling career.

“Stanley had this sense of adventure when it came to filmmaking,” Pederson said in a 1999 interview. “He was a cameraman. He was a photographer. He was an extraordinary filmmaker. I once asked him kind of stupidly how he thought a certain director would have done something we were discussing, and he said, ‘How would I know? I’ve never seen anyone direct.’”

Conrad Alan Pederson was born in Minnesota on April 15, 1934. With his parents and two older sisters, he moved to Inglewood in 1943, and his folks helped build bombers and fighters on assembly lines during World War II.

Pederson began writing science fiction at age 14 and after two years at Los Angeles City College majored in Art and Anthropology at UCLA. He discovered animation in Westwood in the college theater department, made a couple of student films and was hired at Disney, where he was introduced to German American aerospace engineer and space architect Wernher von Braun.

In 1956, Pederson was drafted into the U.S. Army and through his Disney connections wound up working for von Braun in graphic engineering, drawing illustrations about rockets and space travel. After the service, he went back to Disney before heading to Graphic Films.

In Michael Benson’s 2018 book, Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece, Trumbull noted that the postproduction process on 2001 was “epic in its complexity, and Con was the smartest guy in the room. 2001 absolutely would not have happened without Con.”

Pederson ran a “war room” where VFX camera shots were planned, scheduled, tracked and evaluated. Eight to 10 elements frequently were added to the original camera negative one by one before the film would be processed. It could take months to see the finished shot, and should Kubrick not approve, each step would have to be repeated.

Pederson took a couple years off after 2001 and eventually teamed with Robert Abel to launch the production company Robert Abel & Associates, creating animated logos for ABC and the Whirlpool Corp. using techniques he had developed for Kubrick.

Nelson first met Pederson at Able’s and said “he taught me (among many other things) that computer camera moves need imperfection to feel more realistic.”

Pederson’s son remembers his dad coming home from work sometime in the 1970s and saying, “We’re going to use computers” on the job.

After Abel’s shuttered in 1987, Pederson joined Metrolight Studios and served as a creative lead alongside Tim McGovern. There, he was a VFX supervisor on HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon, the 12-part 1998 documentary about the Apollo space program, and an animator on the films Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Imposter (2001), Gods and Generals (2003) and View From the Top (2003)

He also served as an animator for Rhythm & Hues on the 2004 movies Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed and Garfield: The Movie.

In addition to his son, survivors include his second wife, Carole; his first wife, Sharleen; and his grandchildren, Alexandre and Viviane.

Tim Robertson obit

Tim Robertson

Prolific actor / director / writer, best known for Chances, Power without Glory, Prisoner, and Stingers, has died.

 

He was not on the list.

Prolific actor / director / writer Tim Robertson, best known for Chances, Power without Glory, Prisoner, and Stingers, has died, aged 81.

British born Robertson enjoyed a long career in Australian stage and screen, joining the Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory in Melbourne in 1972. This included the second ever production of Dimboola, directed by David Williamson.

His TV work was prolific in the 1970s including roles in Matlock Police, Homicide, Rush, Division 4, Cash & Company, Tandarra, Bluey, Against the Wind, The Sullivans, Skyways, Cop Shop.

In Frank Hardy’s Power Without Glory he played Arthur West for 14 episodes.

Work continued in the 1980s in Young Ramsay, Scales of Justice, Special Squad, Carson’s Law, Vietnam, Rafferty’s Rules, The Heroes, Round the Twist, Neighbours and A Thousand Skies. He had various roles in Prisoner and 16 episodes of Australia You’re Standing In It.

Other credits included All the Rivers Run II, Skirts, The Flying Doctors, Time Trax, Ocean Girl, Halifax fp, Snowy River: The McGregor Saga, Kangaroo Palace, Thuderstone, Beastmaster, Shock Jock, Stingers, CrashBurn and Last Man Standing. In Chances he played Jack Taylor for a whopping 90 episodes.

His film credits were equally impressive including The Cars that Ate Paris, Petersen The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Dimboola, The Last of the Knucklemen, Phar Lap, Bliss, Jenny Kissed Me, Kangaroo, The Year My Voice Broke, Evil Angels, The Big Steal, Bodysurfer, Amy, He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, Holy Smoke and The Eye of the Storm.

He also wrote and directed in theatre, including lyrics for the ill-fated musical Manning Clark’s History of Australia – The Musical in 1988.

On Facebook, legendary Abigail, who worked with him on Bodysurfer and Chances, wrote “Tim was an amazing talent with a multitude of credits over his career in the Australian film and television industry…. Tim was a pleasure to work with and we send our love and condolences to his family and all who knew him.”

Filmography

Film

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1974    The Cars That Ate Paris          Les     

1974    Petersen           3rd Bikie        

1975    The Great MacArthy   Herb   

1975    Pure S  Cop    

1978    The Irishman   Bill Bryant     

1978    The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith       Healey

1979    Dimboola        Father O'Shea

1979    The Last of the Knucklemen   Man in Bar     

1980    Buckley’s Chance       William Buckley         Short film

1983    Phar Lap          Policeman at Stables  

1983    Distinguished Guests  Professor Wiseman      Short film

1984    The Bark is Worse than the Byte                    Short film

1985    Wrong World  Psychiatrist     

1985    Bliss    Alex Duval     

1985    Jenny Kissed Me         Sergeant Blake           

1985    Niel Lynne      Detective        

1986    Kangaroo        O'Neill

1987    Going Sane     Owen Owen   

1987    The Year My Voice Broke      Bob Leishman

1987    Bachelor Girl  Grant  

1987    The Time Guardian     Sergeant McCarthy    

1987    With Time to Kill        Jack Keane     

1988    Evil Angels (aka A Cry in the Dark)   Wallace           

1990    Father  George Coleman        

1990    Aya      Willy   

1990    The Big Steal  Desmond Johnson      

1990    Beyond My Reach      Burroughs      

1994    Ebbtide            Realtor

1997    Amy    Dr Pascoe       

1999    Holy Smoke    Gilbert Barron

2001    He Died with a Felafel in His Hand   Melbourne Detective 1          

2001    The Man Who Sued God        Judge  

2002    Black and White          Mr Kjng         

2006    Riot or Revolution: Eureka Stockade 1854    Douglas Huyghue       Documentary film

2010    Matching Jack Professor Langley      

2011    The Eye of the Storm  Dr Treweek    

2011    The First Interview      Nadar  Short film

2014    The Mule         Judge Irving   

Television

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1974    Matlock Police            Peter Gibson   1 episode

1974    Marion Reg Dargie      Miniseries, 1 episode

1974    Homicide         Engineer          1 episode

1974    Rush    Constable Colvin        1 episode

1975    Division 4       Ambulance Driver      1 episode

1975    Cash and Company     Reed    1 episode

1976    Tandarra          Storekeeper     Miniseries, 1 episode

1976    The Professional Touch                      TV movie

1976    Power Without Glory  Arthur West     Miniseries, 14 episodes

1977    Bluey   Paul Hendy     1 episode

1978    Catspaw          Instructor        

1978    Against the Wind        Holt     Miniseries, 2 episodes

1978    The Tea Ladies                        8 episodes

1978    The Sullivans  Slicker 4 episodes

1979    Skyways          Bert Dyer        1 episode

1979    Cop Shop        Hedley Barrett 1 episode

1979    The Dolebludgers        Mr Price          TV movie

1980    Young Ramsay            Russell Scott   1 episode

1980    Locusts and Wild Honey        Reverend Charles        Miniseries, 3 episodes

1983    Home  Tom     3 episodes

1983    Scales of Justice          Detective Sergeant Mick Miles           Miniseries, 2 episodes

1984    The Last Bastion         Admiral Ernest King   Miniseries, 3 episodes

1984    Special Squad Roberts            Episode 2: "The Expert"

1984    Carson's Law  Det Sgt Brent  2 episodes

1983–1984      Australia You're Standing In It           Various            16 episodes

1985    A Thousand Skies       Jack Lang        Miniseries, 1 episode

1979–1995      Prisoner           Various roles   9 episodes

1986    Pokerface        Huck   Miniseries, 3 episodes

1986    Vietnam           Pascoe Miniseries, 3 episodes

1988    Rafferty's Rules           Mervyn Starkey          1 episode

1988    The Clean Machine     Dr Michael Millius      TV movie

1989    The Heroes      Colonel Mott   Miniseries

1989    Round the Twist          Mr Henderson 1 episode

1989    Bodysurfer      Rex Lang        Miniseries, 2 episodes

1989    Neighbours      Gordon Davies            4 episodes

1990    All the Rivers Run II  Blackwell        Miniseries, 2 episodes

1990    Police Crop: The Winchester Conspiracy       Detective Sergeant Brian Lockwood  TV movie

1990    Skirts   Harrison          1 episode

1989; 1990      The Flying Doctors     Dan Jackson / Bernie Gallagher         2 episodes

1991    Strangers         Father  TV movie

1991    Boys from the Bush    Bobby 1 episode

1991–1992      Chances           Jack Taylor      Episodes 1-90

1993    Time Trax        Joe the Sheriff 1 episode

1994    Ocean Girl       Blunt   1 episode

1995    Halifax f.p.      Joe Mandle      Episode: "Hard Corps"

1995    Snowy River: The McGregor Saga    Trooper John Clarke   1 episode

1997    Kangaroo Palace         Charles Reid   TV movie

1999    Thunderstone  General Cardell           2 episodes

2001    Beastmaster     Solon   1 episode

2001    Shock Jock      Dr Arnold Kipax         1 episode

2002    Bootleg            Prime Minister Tom Turner    Miniseries, 3 episodes

1999–2003      Stingers           Fergus McCallum / George Tyndall / Sgt Noel Harrison       3 episodes

2003    CrashBurn       John     2 episodes

2005    Last Man Standing      Bride's Dad     1 episode

Theatre

As actor

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1964    Doctor Faustus                        University of Melbourne

1972    Bastardy                      Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1972    He Can Swagger Sitting Down / The Joss Adams Show                   Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1972    A Night in Rio and Other Bummers               Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1973    The Dragon Lady's Revenge              Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1973    Dimboola                    Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1976    Knuckle           Patrick Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1976    The Dudders   Colonel Coop / Phil Furley     Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1977    Ravages: Heels Over Head     Cecil    La Mama, Melbourne

1978    It's a Mad World, My Masters             Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1978    No Room for Dreamers           Chidley            Canberra for Australian National Playwrights Conference

1980    Bremen Coffee            Gottfried          Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC

1980    Shakespeare the Sadist            Bill      Melbourne Athenaeum with MTC

1981    Upside Down at the Bottom of the World      DH Lawrence  Theatre 62, Adelaide with STCSA

1981    Teeth ‘n’ Smiles          Saraffian          Nimrod, Sydney

1984    The World Is Made of Glass   Carl Jung         St Martins Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company

1985    Nine Little Australians! Season Two              YMCA, Melbourne with MTC

1993    Picasso at the Lapin Agile                  Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company

2004    The Frail Man Henry Frail      Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with Playbox Theatre Company

2006    Romeo and Juliet                     Playhouse, Melbourne, Sydney Opera House with Bell Shakespeare

2007    Dimboola                    Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne

As director/playwright

Year     Title     Role     Notes

1973    Dimboola        Director           Chevron Hotel, Melbourne

1973    The Waltzing Matilda Pantomime      Designer          Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1974    The River Jordan        Director           Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1975    Mary Shelley and Her Monsters         Playwright       Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1976    Fiery Tales / Looney Tunes (The Lamentable Reign of King Charles the Last)        Librettist          Scott Theatre, Adelaide with New Opera South Australia for Adelaide Festival

1976    The Overcoat  Director           Pram Factory, Melbourne with APG

1977    Waiter, There's a Circus in My Soup  Director           The Last Laugh, Melbourne with Last Laugh Theatre Restaurant & New Circus Ensemble

1980    Tram    Director           Melbourne Comedy Cafe

1981    Wild Honey     Writer  National Theatre, Melbourne with Australian Contemporary Dance Company

1981    Squirts Writer  Playhouse, Adelaide, Universal Theatre, Melbourne with STCSA

1982    Tristram Shandy         Adaptor           Nimrod, Sydney

1985    Mary Shelley and the Monsters          Playwright       Rocks Players Theatre, Sydney for Sydney Festival

1988    Manning Clark's History of Australia – The Musical Playwright       Princess Theatre, Melbourne

1988    Tristram Shandy – Gent          Adaptor           Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne with MTC for MICF

1994    Waltzing Matilda (with Tomato Sauce)          Writer  The Street Theatre, Acton, Canberra with Eureka! Theatre Company

1997    Mary Shelley and the Monsters          Playwright       Carlton Courthouse, Melbourne with La Mama

Tony Carr obit

Tony Carr, Maltese jazz drummer to the stars, dies aged 98

Carr was the session percussionist on the original recording of You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate 

He was not on the list.

Tony Carr, the prolific Maltese drummer and percussionist, died on Friday morning at the age of 98.

Carr, born George Caruana in 1927, was a respected musician whose career began in the bars of Valletta’s Strada Stretta and eventually saw him perform with musical giants including Ella Fitzgerald, Paul McCartney, Dizzy Gillespie, Tom Jones, Cliff Richard, and many others.

He played a pivotal role in laying the foundations for Malta’s jazz scene, while also carving out a remarkable career in the UK, where he became a session drummer for some of the biggest names in music history.

Paying tribute to her father, Sonia Carr said she was "truly touched that he is so well remembered in his beloved Malta".

"I am so proud of my father and everything he achieved. As a session musician he was often uncredited on the biggest tracks, but his sound was unmistakable. It’s a beautiful thing to know that his memory will live on for generations through his music," she said.

Carr’s career took off under the shadow of the bombs during World War II, when music served as a welcome respite from the hardships of the time. During this period, he was mentored by African-American jazz musicians touring Europe and became a member of one of Malta’s first jazz trios.

Like many of his generation, Carr left Malta in 1952 in search of better opportunities. He moved to London with the ambition of becoming a professional percussionist.

His early years in the UK were not easy. He faced long periods without work, was denied opportunities, and experienced bouts of deep homesickness, especially when recording Mary Rose Mallia’s album Songs from Malta in London.

Despite these challenges, Carr persevered. With time and determination, he became a well-respected figure in the British music scene.

He toured with the influential American bandleader and singer Billy Eckstine, who described Carr as “the best drum accompanist I’ve heard in Britain.” Carr also earned praise from the BBC, where a reporter once described him as one of “the best rhythm men in this country [UK].”

One of the highlights of his career was being called to Abbey Road Studios to record alongside John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Denny Laine of Wings and John Bonham, also of Led Zeppelin, as part of Paul McCartney’s Rockestra supergroup.

Carr was also the session percussionist on the original recording of You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate.

In recent years, his legacy returned to public attention in Malta with the release of Strait Street to Abbey Road, a documentary by Cedric Vella based on Carr’s biography by Ġużè Camilleri.

Camilleri, a respected percussionist in his own right, described Carr as a key figure in Maltese music and culture.

“He lived contemporary music from the beginning, starting with jazz, and continued to explore new styles as they developed in the 60s and 70s. He always adapted and welcomed change, yet his contribution to contemporary music still deserves greater recognition in Malta,” Camilleri said.

“I am grateful to have met him, and he inspired me greatly with his stories.”

Renowned British composer, arranger and conductor John Cameron also paid tribute, telling Times of Malta that Carr was “a powerhouse in more than one sense.”

“Tony Carr was already a powerhouse in the British jazz scene, playing with such luminaries as Ronnie Ross, Bill le Sage and Spike Heatley, when I first met him in 1965,” Cameron said.

“He soon became one of my ‘indispensables’, touring with Donovan, recording with Hot Chocolate, TV and radio with me on the Julie Felix and Bobbie Gentry shows, playing jazz with me, Harold McNair and Danny Thompson, innumerable movie scores and most notably paired up with drummer Barry Morgan as the ‘engine’ – indeed the ‘powerhouse’ – of CCS.”

He added: “As a musician and a person, he was a force of nature. I’m sad we lost him but I’m so glad I knew him.”