Rest in Peace Thread

[Prometheus]

Norman Jewison, Filmmaker Who Spanned Genres, Is Dead at 97

Norman Jewison, whose broad range as a filmmaker was reflected in the three movies that earned him Academy Award nominations for best director — the socially conscious drama “In the Heat of the Night,” the big-budget musical “Fiddler on the Roof” and the romantic comedy “Moonstruck” — died on Saturday at his home. He was 97.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for the family, Jeff Sanderson. He declined to specify where Mr. Jewison lived, saying that the family requested privacy.

Mr. Jewison, whose career began in Canadian television and spanned more than 50 years, was, like his close friend Sidney Lumet and a select few other directors, best known for making films that addressed social issues. The most celebrated of those was “In the Heat of the Night” (1967), one of his earliest features and his first Oscar-winning film.

A story of racial tensions in the American South filtered through a murder mystery that brings together a Black Philadelphia detective (Sidney Poitier) and a white Mississippi police chief (Rod Steiger), “In the Heat of the Night” could not have been more timely: It opened weeks after racial violence had erupted in Detroit and Newark. It went on to win five Academy Awards, including best picture and best actor, for Mr. Steiger.

Mr. Poitier was among the many actors who had fond memories of working with Mr. Jewison. “He gives his actors room and keeps them as calm as he can, because it’s easier to speak with them when they’re calm,” he told The New York Times in 2011. “A director has to keep the actors on their toes while the camera’s running, but when the scene is done, they should be relaxing, nothing on their minds. There can’t be a constant level of seriousness. And with Norman, there’s always a lot of laughter.”

Mr. Jewison lost the best director award for “In the Heat of the Night” to Mike Nichols, who won for “The Graduate,” and he never did win an Oscar for directing. But his films, and the actors in them, garnered many Oscars and 46 nominations.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/movies/norman-jewison-dead.html

[Prometheus]

Carl Weathers, Star of the Rocky Franchise and The Mandalorian, Dies Aged 76

• Carl Weathers, known for his iconic roles in Rocky and The Mandalorian, has passed away at 76. He was an exceptional human being who left an indelible mark on the world.
• Weathers began his career as a professional football player before pivoting to acting. His breakthrough role came as Apollo Creed in the Rocky franchise.
• Weathers had a diverse range of roles, showcasing his strength, integrity, and depth. He was also respected for his work behind the camera and his advocacy for education and the arts. Thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fans.

https://movieweb.com/carl-weathers-dead-rocky-mandalorian/

[Prometheus]

Tom Priestley, Oscar-Nominated Film Editor on ‘Deliverance,’ Dies at 91

Tom Priestley, the British film editor whose work assembling the dueling-banjos sequence and hellish “squeal like a pig” attack in John Boorman’s Deliverance landed him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 91.

His death on Christmas Day was only recently revealed.

Priestley also cut two other movies helmed by Boorman: Leo the Last (1970), which won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival, and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977).

He also edited The Great Gatsby (1974); Blake Edwards’ The Return of the Pink Panther (1975); That Lucky Touch (1975), starring Roger Moore; Voyage of the Damned (1976), featuring an all-star cast; and Roman Polanski‘s Tess (1979).

Priestley was the only son of renowned British novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley, who wrote the classic 1945 drama An Inspector Calls for the theater and served as a BBC Radio broadcaster during the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II. 

Source.

[Prometheus]

Micheline Presle, ‘Devil in the Flesh’ Star, Dies at 101

Micheline Presle, the standout French actress who starred in the controversial Devil in the Flesh before making a foray into Hollywood that included roles opposite John Garfield, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn and Paul Newman, has died. She was 101.

Presle died Wedneday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law Olivier Bomsel told Le Figaro.

Presle came to international attention when she portrayed a nurse having an affair with a student (Gérard Philipe) in the World War I drama Devil in the Flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.

Source.

[+ Grogu]

Kenneth Mitchell, ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Actor, Dies at 49

Kenneth Mitchell, known for his portrayal of several characters in Star Trek: Discovery as well as roles in Captain Marvel and Jericho, has died. He was 49.

Mitchell died Saturday in Los Angeles from complications of ALS, his family told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Kenny was the keeper of countless enduring friendships,” they said. “Like a massive star exploding with kindness, pureness and a particular brand of silly, you were pulled right into his orbit. Once captured, Kenny could bathe you in positivity, compassion, thoughtfulness, and hilarity, and make you feel so loved.”

Mitchell played four characters across three seasons of Paramount’s Star Trek: Discovery: Kol, Kol-Sha, Tenavik and Aurellio. He also portrayed a young Captain Marvel’s father in a flashback in Marvel’s Captain Marvel and World War II flyer Deke Slayton in ABC’s The Astronaut Wives Club.

Born in Toronto on Nov. 25, 1974, Mitchell booked his first studio film portraying professional ice hockey player Ralph Cox in Disney’s 2004 Miracle. He later played mayor-turned-sheriff Eric Green on CBS’ Jericho, his first series regular role, starting in 2006. Most recently, he played Joe in FX/Hulu’s The Old Man in 2022.

Mitchell was diagnosed with ALS in 2018. He spoke about the diagnosis in a 2020 interview to People, where he said that “the moment that they told us it was [ALS], it was like I was in my own movie. That’s what it felt like, like I was watching that scene where someone is being told that they have a terminal illness. It was just a complete disbelief, a shock.”

In his later roles, on The Old Man, Nancy Drew and See, he appeared using a wheelchair.

Mitchell met his wife, 10 Things I Hate About You actress Susan May Pratt, on the 2001 set of Showtime’s Charms for the Easy Life. They played love interests. The first scene they filmed was their characters’ kissing, and sparks flew onscreen and in real life. They married in May 2006, and had two children, Lilah and Kallum.

Mitchell is survived by Pratt, his children, as well as his parents and in-laws and several nieces and nephews. His family asked that any gifts be directed toward ALS research or his children, the latter via a GoFundMe.

“Kenneth was a giver, a listener, a sentimental and an excellent observer of his surroundings,” his family said. “One of his most endearing qualities as a friend is that Kenny loved to watch others shine. He was a conductor of connecting friends together and thoroughly enjoyed prompting a good story … and boy oh boy did he love to laugh. He absolutely loved to laugh.”

Source.

Edited February 25 by Grogu

[Prometheus]

Jackie Loughery, ‘The D.I.’ Actress and Wife of Jack Webb, Dies at 93

Jackie Loughery, who parlayed a victory in the first Miss USA pageant into an acting career that included a prominent role opposite future husband Jack Webb in the 1957 military drama The D.I., has died. She was 93.

Loughery died Friday in Los Angeles, Webb biographer Dan Moyer told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was like a mother to me and called me her kid,” he said.

The Brooklyn native also served as Johnny Carson’s assistant on a game show and appeared in the Western comedy Pardners (1956), starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; the melodrama Eighteen and Anxious (1957), starring William Campbell; and the political drama A Public Affair (1962), starring Edward Binns.

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[Prometheus]

David Bordwell, Preeminent Film Scholar, Dies at 76

David Bordwell, the noted film scholar, teacher, author and researcher known for sharing his knowledge and enthusiasm of cinema with movie lovers everywhere, has died. He was 76.

Bordwell died Thursday after a long illness, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced. He taught at the school from 1973 until his retirement in 2004 and was its Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the time of his death.

For more than two decades, Bordwell supplied commentaries, visual and written essays and interviews for films in the Criterion Collection and was seen and heard on 50 insightful episodes of Observations on Film Art on the Criterion Channel.

Bordwell wrote his essential textbooks Film Art: An Introduction, first published in 1979, and Film History: An Introduction, first published in 1994. Both were authored with his wife, Kristin Thompson, a fellow UW professor.

The couple also published an authoritative film blog at davidbordwell.net.

In all, Bordwell authored, co-authored or edited some 22 books and monographs and more than 140 journal articles, book chapters, introductions to collections and review essays, UW said.

Bordwell was born on July 23, 1947, in Penn Yan, New York. “I grew up on a farm and so didn’t have the easy access to movies that kids in cities would have,” he said in 2006.

“I began to watch classic movies on TV late at night while also reading books like Arthur Knight’s The Liveliest Art and Paul Rotha’s The Film Till Now. … So in a weird way I got more of my awareness of film from reading than from viewing.”

He graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1969 after studying English literature and joined the faculty at the UW’s Department of Communication Arts immediately after completing coursework for his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

His writings included 1980’s The Films of Carl-Theodor Dreyer; 1985’s The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style and Mode of Production to 1960; 1988’s Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema; 2000’s Planet Hong Kong; 2005’s Figures Traced in Light: On Cinematic Staging; and 2006’s The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies.

Among Bordwell’s favorite films, according to IndieWire, were Passing Fancy (1933), How Green Was My Valley (1941), Sanshiro Sugata (1943), Song of the South (1946), Advise and Consent (1962), Zorns Lemma (1970), Choose Me (1984), Back to the Future (1985) and The Hunt for Red October (1990).

In addition to his wife, survivors include his sisters, Diane and Darlene; his nephew, Sanjeev; and his niece, Kamini.

Screenwriter, director and producer James Schamus, a three-time Oscar nominee, paid tribute to Bordwell in a statement to UW:

“As a filmmaker, I can describe David’s friendship as unnervingly generous. His astonishing critical intelligence never got in the way of his enthusiasms, and his enthusiasms never dampened his analytic regard; they were functions of each other,” he wrote.

“This meant that when talk came around to one’s own work, the effect was something akin to getting a loving bear hug from a nuclear-powered microscope. There will never be another like David again.”

Source.

 

[+ Grogu]

Joe Camp, Writer and Director of the ‘Benji’ Movies, Dies at 84

Joe Camp, the writer, director and producer who taught that old dog Hollywood new tricks about animal movies as the creative force behind the 1974 franchise-spawning Benji, has died. He was 84.

Camp died Friday morning at his home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, following a long illness, his son, filmmaker Brandon Camp, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Camp also directed and co-wrote the comedies Hawmps! (1976), about the U.S. Cavalry replacing horses with camels in the 1850s, and The Double McGuffin (1979), which revolved around kids trying to thwart a terrorist (Ernest Borgnine) and featured lots of in-jokes about Hitchcock movies.

Other than serving as an extra on the Robert Mitchum-starring Home From the Hill (1960), Camp had no Hollywood experience when he raised about $500,000 to make Benji, a story about a stray mixed breed — not a fancy pure breed like Lassie! — who helps rescue two youngsters from kidnappers.

Crucial to the movie’s success, he managed to get Higgins, who had appeared for years hanging around the Shady Rest Hotel on the CBS comedy Petticoat Junction, to come out of retirement to play the title character.

Camp completed his film, then showed it to every studio in Hollywood, and every single one wanted nothing to do with it. “I was really in the dumps, I was down low,” he recalled in a 2023 interview. “What are we going to do? We can throw it in the trash, or we can figure it out.”

He formed Dallas-based Mulberry Square Releasing to distribute the feature independently in October 1974, and it wound up grossing nearly $40 million ($250 million in today’s dollars), delighting audiences well into the next summer.

Benji was followed by movies featuring the scruffy dog in 1977, 1980 — counting Oh! Heavenly Dog, starring Chevy Chase as a detective reincarnated as a pooch — 1987 and 2004; two telefilms that aired in 1978 and others that aired in 1980 and 1981; and the 1983 CBS kids series Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince. (Most of the time, Benji was played by Higgins’ daughter, Benjean.)

By one estimation, the films have grossed about $600 million if adjusted for inflation, making Camp one of the most successful indie filmmakers of all time.

He then contributed to the 2018 Benji reboot at Netflix that was directed by his son Brandon Camp and produced by Jason Blum.

Joseph Shelton Camp Jr. was born in St. Louis on April 20, 1939. His dad’s job took him and his family to live in places including Little Rock, Arkansas; El Segundo; Jackson, Mississippi; and Memphis, Tennessee, where he and his friends made movies while attending East High School.

At the University of Mississippi, Camp got to be an extra when MGM came to Oxford to film parts of Home From the Hill, directed by Vincente Minnelli. However, his scenes — all with Yvette Mimieux — were cut. She’s not in the movie, either.

Camp wanted to transfer to UCLA film school after his sophomore year but was rejected, so he finished up at Mississippi, graduating in 1961 with a degree in advertising and marketing. He then took a job with McCann Erickson, first in Houston and then Dallas.

When Camp and his first wife, Carolyn, saw a clip from the animated Disney classic Lady and the Tramp (1955) on TV, he asked her, “Do you think it would be possible to do that kind of a movie with a real dog? We came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be possible, because how to you tell a story without words?”

But after she retired for the night, Camp stayed up with Benji, their Yorkshire terrier, and “got intrigued with watching his expressions on things … I got down on the floor in a corner all huddled up and acted afraid, and the dog’s looking at me like, ‘Have you lost your mind?’ You could read that in his face. I went to bed knowing dogs do talk.”

The next morning, Camp wrote the entire treatment for Benji and said it made his wife cry when he read it to her. “We got it by depicting what the animal was feeling, not what the animal was doing,” he explained.

Camp then discovered that one of his college classmates, Tom Lester, was starring on CBS’ Green Acres, and the actor helped him find contacts in Hollywood.

Benji’s theme, “I Feel Love,” recorded by Charlie Rich, received an Academy Award nomination for best original song but lost out on Oscar night to “We May Never Love Like This Again,” sung by Maureen McGovern for The Towering Inferno.

Higgins also was nominated — for a PATSY Award for best animal performance of the year in a feature. Alas, he lost as well, to the cat from Harry and Tonto.

Camp did win an Emmy for outstanding children’s program for Benji at Work. He also wrote several Benji-related books and other books about horses, including the well-regarded The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons From the Herd, first published in 2008.

Survivors also include his second wife, Kathleen, an attorney, photographer and teacher (they married in 2001); son Joe Camp III, an assistant director; and step-children David, Dylan and Allegra. He was married to Carolyn from 1960 until her death from a heart disorder in 1997 at age 58.

Source.

[Prometheus]

Gen V Star Chance Perdomo Dies in Motorcycle Crash Aged 27

• Chance Perdomo, star of Gen V , dies in motorcycle accident. Family asks for privacy during mourning.
• Production of Gen V Season 2 was delayed after the tragic news of Perdomo's passing.
• Perdomo is remembered for his passion for the arts and his warmth by his family.

https://movieweb.com/gen-v-chance-perdomo-dead-motorcycle-crash-27-club/

[+ Grogu]

Ray Chan, Art Director and Production Designer for Marvel Films, Dies at 56

Ray Chan, the art director and production designer for Marvel Studios who contributed to Guardians of the Galaxy, three Avengers movies, the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine and more, has died. He was 56.

Chan died Tuesday near his home in Wales, his family announced. No cause of death was divulged.

“Ray truly was one of the best, in so many ways,” they said. “He had an exuberance for life, which was tragically cut short and will be sorely missed. He loved his career and lived a rich and wonderful life, and his memory will live on through all those he knew and the films he helped make happen.”

Source.

[+ Grogu]

Lord of the Rings and Titanic star Bernard Hill Dies, Aged 79

• Actor Bernard Hill, known for iconic roles, has passed away at 79 according to his agent Lou Coulson.
• Born in Manchester in 1944, Hill featured in British dramas and was praised for gritty performances.
• His recent role in The Responder with Martin Freeman airs today on BBC.

https://movieweb.com/lord-of-the-rings-titanic-bernard-hill-dies-aged-79/

[Prometheus]

Legendary Director Roger Corman Dies, Famous for Starting Countless Careers

• Roger Corman, a legendary filmmaker, has died at age 98, leaving behind a legacy of groundbreaking independent films.
• His work includes horror classics like Little Shop of Horrors , but almost more significantly, he was responsible for developing the careers of many future Hollywood icons.
• Corman remains beloved by cinephiles and filmmakers everywhere, and his impact on the art cannot be understated.

https://movieweb.com/roger-corman-dies-98-great-director-producer/