Deaths: December 19
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- Actor
- Soundtrack
Dick Latessa was born on 15 September 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Alfie (2004), The Black Donnellys (2007) and Stigmata (1999). He was married to Shirley Stollman. He died on 19 December 2016 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Andrzej Skupinski was born on 12 February 1952 in Chorzów, Slaskie, Poland. He was an actor, known for Grzeszny zywot Franciszka Buly (1980), Komedianci z wczorajszej ulicy (1987) and Angelus (2000). He died on 19 December 2018 in Chorzów, Slaskie, Poland.
- Arkie Whiteley was born on 6 November 1964 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), The Killing of Angel Street (1981) and A Town Like Alice (1981). She was married to Jim Elliott and Christopher Kuhn. She died on 19 December 2001 in Palm Beach, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Jules V. Levy, Arthur Gardner and Arnold Laven met in 1943 in the First Motion Picture Unit of the Army Air Force; they were stationed at the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, CA (with other notables such as Capt. Ronald Reagan, Capt. Clark Gable and Lt. William Holden, etc.), making training films. Levy, Gardner and Laven resolved that they would start their own independent motion picture company after they got out of the Air Force; all were discharged in 1945, but their company wasn't formed until 1951 (in the interim, Levy and Laven worked as script supervisors and Gardner as an assistant director and production manager). The first Levy-Gardner-Laven film was 1952's Without Warning! (1952); in the decades since, they have produced dozens of additional features and several TV series (including The Rifleman (1958), Law of the Plainsman (1959), The Detectives (1959) and The Big Valley (1965).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Audrey Christie was born on 27 June 1912 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Splendor in the Grass (1961), Carousel (1956) and Mame (1974). She was married to Donald Briggs. She died on 19 December 1989 in West Hollywood, California, USA.- The daughter of William Lott, who managed Ealing Studios before the Second World War, Barbara Lott trained for acting at RADA. She made her stage debut in 1944 and her first television appearance in 1950. Barbara achieved fame late in life as Mrs Bennett in Rings on Their Fingers (1978) and as Ronnie Corbett's mother in Sorry! (1981). Barbara was married to television producer Stuart Latham (who died in 1993).
- Basil Henson was a prominent stage actor in Britain for over 40 years. His love of theatre began at the age of 12 while playing "Portia" at St. Cuthbert's Prep School. After World War II broke out, he joined the Indian Army and was a Major with the Royal Gharwal Rifles. His professional stage debut was in 1946 at the London Casino, where he played a chorus boy in "The Dancing Years", by Ivor Novello. His long list of his stage credits included "Malvolio" in "Twelfth Night", opposite Vivien Leigh in the Old Vic tour of Australia, New Zealand and South America, and "The Duke of Venice" in the London and New York productions of "Merchant of Venice", with Dustin Hoffman.
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Bill Sellars was born on 5 June 1925 in Tideswell, Derbyshire, England, UK. He was a producer and writer, known for All Creatures Great and Small (1978), The Newcomers (1965) and Doctor Who Lost in Time (1969). He was married to June Bland. He died on 19 December 2018 in the UK.- Writer
Clifford Irving was born on 5 November 1930 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Fake!, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963) and The Hoax (2006). He was married to Julie Anne Schall, Maureen Earl, Edith Sommer, Fay Brooke Ward, Claire Lydon and Nina Wilcox. He died on 19 December 2017 in Sarasota, Florida, USA.- Desmond Llewelyn was born in South Wales in 1914, the son of a coal mining engineer. In high school, he worked as a stagehand in the school's productions and then picked up sporadic small parts. His family would not give up their effort to prevent him from a life on stage, so an uncle who was a high-ranking police officer arranged for Llewelyn to take the department's physical exam.
"Thank God, I flunked the eye test, and they wouldn't take me. I suspect the inspector had a hangover because he also failed this other chap I knew, who went out the same day and passed the physical for the Royal Navy, which had a lot tougher test."
After failing the police exam, Llewelyn thought about becoming a minister, realizing after a week-long retreat of quiet and meditation that the ministry "was definitely not for me." Llewelyn persevered in his acting quest, and was accepted to the Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts in the mid 1930s.
The outbreak of World War II in September 1939, halted his acting career, and Llewelyn was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British army. He was assigned to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was sent to France in early 1940.
In a short time, his regiment was fighting the Germans, and Llewelyn's company was holding off a division of German tanks. Llewelyn explained that "eventually, the tanks broke through and many of us jumped into this canal and started swimming down it to the other side, figuring that our chaps were still over there. But the Germans were the only ones there," and Llewelyn was captured, and held as a prisoner of war for five years.
At one prison camp, the prisoners had dug a tunnel and were planning to escape the next morning. Llewelyn was down in the tunnel doing some maintenance work in preparation of the escape when the Germans found out about the tunnel and caught him down in it, a crime that earned Llewelyn 10 days in solitary, which Llewelyn called "a blessing of sorts. After spending every day of several years sleeping in a room with 50 other people, the quiet and privacy was rather nice."
After the war, Llewelyn returned to London and revived his career, eventually being cast as his trademark Q in From Russia with Love (1963). Since 1963, Llewelyn has appeared as Q in every Eon Productions Bond film, except Live and Let Die (1973).
Llewelyn was omitted from Live and Let Die (1973) because producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli felt that too much was being made of the gadgets and they would play it down. Llewelyn said he "was quite disappointed" at being left out of Live and Let Die (1973).
Fans, however, missed Q, and Llewelyn got a call shortly after the release of Live and Let Die (1973) telling him that he would be in the next Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
Llewelyn, who admits that his mechanical abilities in real life are virtually nil, is geared up for the next Bond movie. "I'd love to be in the next one," Llewelyn said. "Of course, if you consider my age, they should have put me out to grass a long time ago." - Actor
- Writer
Douglas Dick was born on 20 November 1920 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Rope (1948), The Second Hundred Years (1967) and Bewitched (1964). He was married to Peggy Chantler Dick and Rhoda (Ronnie) Marion Noyer. He died on 19 December 2015 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Duncan Lamont began his career in the 1940's in Waterfront Women (1950) and Quentin Durward (1955) then went to Hollywood for Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). Returning to Britain he went into what he described as one of his happiest roles opposite Margaret Rutherford in Murder at the Gallop (1963). He described himself as a 'heavy with a capacity for light villainy' as he was never really a bad villain. When the film is nearly over there's usually justice to contend with, While sometimes he's was on the right side of the law never the less he always seems to end up dead or defeated. Television work took him to America for appearances in such as The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955), Hawaiian Eye (1959), and The Alaskans (1959), while British credits included such as Z Cars (1962), Danger Man (1960), and Dixon of Dock Green (1955).
- Costume Designer
Francisco Brennand was born on 11 June 1927 in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. He was a costume designer, known for A Compadecida (1969), Brennand - De Ovo Omnia (2000) and Soneto do Desmantelo Blue (1993). He died on 19 December 2019 in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.- Actress
- Soundtrack
At the age of eight in 1979, the Vietnam-born actress and her seven year-old sister were separated from their parents and left their village in central Vietnam as boat people. Their father and older brother had made the trip the year before and their mother stayed behind with her other children. The sisters lived in refugee camps in Hong Kong for three months where they were reunited with their father, then emigrated to California the United States before reuniting with her five other siblings. Her mother finally reunited with the family four years later.
Hiep was a premed student at U.C. Davis majoring in physiology when she came to the open casting call with one of her sisters for the Oliver Stone film Heaven & Earth (1993) being held at San Jose State University because several of her friends were doing it for fun. She was one of 16,000 Vietnamese-Americans seen by casting scouts for the film and was the one of the thousands who got the starring role of Le Ly Hayslip. Despite having no acting experience, she had a half-dozen callbacks before she was finally chosen to play the role of Lely Heyslip between ages of 13 to 38.
Since that time, she has acted in several films and has graduated from college. She is the owner and operator of the China Beach Vietnamese Bistro in Venice, California.- Actress
- Soundtrack
One of the most natural beauties of the 1960s with a gentle voice and personality to match, blonde Hope Lange was born in Redding Ridge, Connecticut, and performed on stage from the age of nine. She studied both drama and dance under Martha Graham, did some modeling and then worked in stock companies and on television, dancing on Jackie Gleason shows. She acted in just a handful of motion pictures, garnering an Academy Award nomination for one, and later won two Emmys for her best-loved role on television.
Hope was one of four children of an actress mother, upon whose shoulders fell the responsibility of supporting the family after the premature death of her father, the composer/arranger John Lange, at age 61 in 1942. Along with her siblings, she worked as a waitress in the family's Greenwich Village restaurant, 'Minette's of Washington Square'. By chance, she made the acquaintance of Eleanor Roosevelt, who owned an apartment in the village, and ended up walking the former First Lady's prized Scotch terrier, Fala. This got her photo into a newspaper, which, in turn, led to an advertising job with pictures on the June 1949 cover of 'Radio-Electronics', sporting the futuristic red 'Man from Mars' pith helmet with built-in radio. Still just fifteen years old, Hope spent the next two years at college in Oregon and New York, then found her first job in television and was subsequently signed by 20th Century-Fox.
After successful screen tests, Lange made her motion picture debut in Bus Stop (1956) (Barbara Eden was one of her competitors for the part) opposite Marilyn Monroe and husband-to-be Don Murray. Even the great Marilyn was said to have felt a little threatened by another blonde who was not only beautiful but five years younger and could act as well. After playing the wife of the titular character in The True Story of Jesse James (1957), a picture which she later referred to as a 'turkey', Lange was cast as the fragile Selena Cross in the melodramatic but good-looking soap opera Peyton Place (1957). This movie was regarded as risqué and controversial at the time, dealing with previously taboo subjects such as rape and incest. For her part of the abused girl, raped by her alcoholic stepfather, whom she finally kills in self-defense, Lange received an Academy Award nomination.
The glossy production values of The Best of Everything (1959), a film about ambitious New York career women working in a magazine publishing house, overshadowed most of the character development. However, Lange (who was billed above the established star Joan Crawford) was dealt with most favorably by the critics. According to Bosley Crowther of The New York Times: "Simply because she has the most to do, and does it gracefully, Miss Lange comes off best' (October 9,1959). The following decade was to be a period of mixed fortunes for Hope Lange.
In 1961, Lange began a long-standing relationship with fellow actor Glenn Ford and left husband Don Murray. Ford, in his dual role of star and associate producer, put pressure on director Frank Capra to cast Lange as the female lead in his next motion picture, the whimsical Damon Runyon-inspired comedy Pocketful of Miracles (1961), even though Shirley Jones had already been assigned to the role. Capra reluctantly gave way, though Hope Lange was likely miscast as the wisecracking showgirl. Lange again co-starred with Ford in the glossy romantic melodrama Love Is a Ball (1963), wherein acting took a back seat to sumptuous costumes and the French Riviera. On the negative side of the ledger, Lange had unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of Maria in West Side Story (1961), which ultimately went to Natalie Wood. Instead, she was cast as Elvis Presley's psychiatrist in Wild in the Country (1961), which was generally panned by critics, except for Variety singling out her performance above the rest as 'intelligent' and 'sensitive'. Lange was also slated to appear as love interest to George Peppard in How the West Was Won (1962), but her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.
Turning increasingly towards television, Hope Lange achieved her most lasting fame as the popular star of the amiable sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968) as a widow who (with two kids and a housekeeper) takes up residence in a quaint cottage also inhabited by the cantankerous ghost of a sea captain (Edward Mulhare). The show ran for three seasons and Lange won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series (1969 and 1970). In her only other recurring TV role, she played Dick Van Dyke's wife in The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971), but with less rewarding results. She received good notices for portraying Charles Bronson's dying wife, the victim of the original Death Wish (1974) and its raison d'etre. She then acted primarily on television, with few exceptions, including Blue Velvet (1986) and Clear and Present Danger (1994) as a U.S. senator. In 1977, she replaced Tony Award-winning Ellen Burstyn in the starring role of Doris in 'Same Time, Next Year' on Broadway.
In the early '90s, Lange underwent surgery for a brain tumour. While the operation was successful, her health remained precarious and she limited her screen appearances, retiring altogether in 1998. She died of an intestinal infection in December 2003, aged 70.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Editor
Born in Paris in 1904, Tourneur went to Hollywood with his father, director Maurice Tourneur around 1913. He started out as a script clerk and editor for his father, then graduated to such jobs as directing shorts (often with the pseudonym Jack Turner), both in France and America. He was hired to run the second unit for David O. Selznick's A Tale of Two Cities (1935), where he first met Val Lewton. In 1942, when Lewton was named to head the new horror unit at RKO, he asked Tourneur to be his first director. The result was the highly artistic (and commercially successful) Cat People (1942). Tourneur went on to direct masterpieces in many different genres, all showing a great command of mood and atmosphere.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jan De Laval was born on 28 March 1948 in Västrum, Sweden. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Selambs (1979), Kameleonterna (1969) and Mor gifter sig (1979). He was married to Ingrid. He died on 19 December 2019 in Sweden.- Soundtrack
- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Jules Deelder was born on 24 November 1944 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor and writer, known for Het veld van eer (1983), Tatort (1970) and A black and white statement (1980). He died on 19 December 2019 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands.- Kimberly Ross was born on 8 October 1959 in Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Pumpkinhead (1988), The Last Starfighter (1984) and Nightmare at Noon (1988). She was married to Bobby Czyz. She died on 19 December 2006 in Raritan, New Jersey, USA.
- Music Department
- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of the most respected and admired artists of his generation, Kurt Masur is a regular guest conductor with the foremost orchestras of North America and Europe.
Born in Brieg (Silesia) in 1927, Kurt Masur studied piano, composition and conducting at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1955, he had his first important engagement conducting the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1970 to 1996, he was Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a post occupied in the past by such prestigious personalities as F Felix Mendelssohn, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhem Furtwängler and Bruno Walter. When he resigned his functions in 1996, the Gewandhaus Orchestra awarded him, for the first time of its history, the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus. In 1989, the key role he played in the pacifist demonstrations that led to the reunification of Germany brought him worldwide attention.
His close and intensive collaboration with the New-York Philharmonic Orchestra, whose Music Director he was from 1991 to 2002, was remarkable for its constant high standards of quality. Under his direction the New-York Philharmonic successfully launched many new initiatives, including the restoration of nationwide radio broadcasts of its concerts in the USA, and the creation of its own CD label, whose releases have won many awards. At the end of his period of service, Kurt Masur was the first music director in the orchestra's history to receive the title of Music Director Emeritus. In September 2000, he also took on the post of Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2002, Masur became Director of the Orchestre National de France. Among the notable events of his first season were the complete symphonies of Beethoven, the French premiere of Wynton Marsalis's All Rise with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, a Mendelssohn cycle, and two foreign tours, first to Hong Kong for 3 concerts in the International Arts Festival, and then to central and northern Europe.
Among the many honors he has received are the Gold Medal for Music of the National Arts Club (1996), the grade of Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur from the French government, the title of Cultural Ambassador for New-York City (1997), and the Starry Cross of the Order of Merit of the German Federal Republic (2002). Since 1992 he has been Honorary Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He has taught at the Leipzig Academy of Music since 1975. Kurt Masur has made more than a hundred recordings with many orchestra. In 1998 he celebrated fifty years as a professional conductor.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Leo "Bud" Welch, born in Calhoun County, Mississippi, 1932, was a blues/gospel guitarist and singer. In 1947 at age 15, he could play guitar and sing well enough to perform in front of an audience. He received praise and blessings of many elder guitar players. And he was offered an audition by BB King - but could not afford the trip to Memphis. However, Bud stayed with the blues till 1975 when he mostly converted to gospel. But his musicianship didn't pay the bills. His main occupation was being a lumberjack for 30 years. Welch's international music career started at the age of 82, in 2014, with the release of the album "Sabougla Voices" by Big Legal Mess Records. His subsequent studio album, "I Don't Prefer No Blues", also recorded for Big Legal Mess, was released in 2015. Austrian filmmakers Wolfgang Pfoser-Almer and Stefan Wolner made several trips to Mississippi following Leo "Bud" Welch as a performer and private person. Their documentary, "Late Blossom Blues" premiered at the Clarksdale Film Festival, Delta Cinema, January 28, 2017. Leo "Bud" Welch passed away on December 19, 2017. "I don't know what you come to do" is carved in his stone at Double Springs Church Cemetery, Bruce, MS.- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of America's most heard men back in the day with thousands of radio programs to his credit and the possessor of one of the most prominent male voices of that medium's war-era "Golden Age," veteran actor Les Tremayne was considered to have the third most distinctive tones on the airwaves, only behind Bing Crosby and Franklin D. Roosevelt!
Born Lester Tremayne Henning in London, England, on April 16, 1913, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois when the boy was only four. Wanting to bury his British accent growing up in the States, Tremayne took an an eager interest in community theatre. He began his professional career as a dancer in vaudeville, supplementing his income on the side as a barker in various amusement parks.
Tremayne received his first radio job in Chicago when he was 17 years old. While gaining experience, he attended Northwestern University where he studied Greek drama and also took up anthropology at Columbia University and UCLA. During the 1930s and 1940s, Tremayne was usually heard in more than one show per week. Growing in leaps and bounds as a voice that could handle many types, ages and accents, his first big break occurred in 1934 as the leading man on the soap drama "The Romance of Helen Trent." He then replaced actor Don Ameche as the leading man on the popular weekly radio drama "The First Nighter," a stint that lasted six years. During that time, his more popular series work included that of super-sleuth Nick Charles in "The Adventures of the Thin Man." He also became the announcer on "The Bob Crosby Show."
Searching for bigger opportunities, Tremayne transplanted himself to both Los Angeles New York in 1943, and continued to find radio work as the title role in "The Falcon," played detective Pat Abbott in "The Abbott Mysteries," appeared on Bob Crosby's programs "The Old Gold Show" and "The Bob Crosby Show," and co-starred as the straight man alongside "The Great One" on "The Jackie Gleason/Les Tremayne Show" when Crosby enlisted for WWII service. Other shows would include a breakfast talk format, "The Tremaynes," with second wife Alice Reinheart, as well as the programs "Cavalcade of America," "Ford Theatre," "Inner Sanctum Mysteries," "Kraft Music Hall," "Lux Radio Theatre" and "The Whistle," among so many others.
In the 1950s, Tremayne took on films and the new medium of TV. Typically playing military types, erudite professionals, shifty execs and errant husbands, his more officious roles included playing a police commission chief in The Racket (1951); a colonel in Francis Goes to West Point (1952); a lawyer in Susan Slept Here (1954); a senator in A Man Called Peter (1955) and another colonel in The Perfect Furlough (1958). Best remembered for his characters in cult 1950s sci-fiers, he co-starred or was featured in The War of the Worlds (1953), The Monolith Monsters (1957), The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959) and The Angry Red Planet (1959). His mellifluous voice was also utilized in films (Forbidden Planet (1956)), in film trailers (The Iron Petticoat (1956)) and for narrating documentaries (Adventures in the Red Sea (1951)).
On TV, Tremayne earned frequent appearances on such established programs as "The Danny Thomas Show," "Mr. Adams and Eve," "The Thin Man," "Bachelor Father," "77 Sunset Strip," "The Jack Benny Program," "The Rifleman," "State Trooper," "M Squad," "Thriller," "Perry Mason," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Checkmate" and "The Andy Griffith Show." He also had a recurring TV role as Major Stone on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (1954) and co-starred as Inspector Richard Queen, the father of the famed mystery writer (played by George Nader on the series The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen (1958).
A flurry of unworthy low-budget films came Tremayne's way in later years including Shootout at Big Sag (1962), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), The Slime People (1963), Creature of Destruction (1968), Strawberries Need Rain (1971) and Fangs (1974). He also found work with the CBS Mystery Radio Theatre, and also provided voices for "Mr. Magoo," "Johnny Quest," "The Smurfs," "Go-Bots," "Scooby Doo" and "Rikki Tiki Tavi."
Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995, Tremayne would take his final bow in the comedy film horror The Naked Monster (2005) which featured several other cult actors of '50s sci-fi/horror including Kenneth Tobey, John Agar, Robert Clarke, Robert Cornthwaite, Jeanne Carmen, Lori Nelson, Ann Robinson and Gloria Talbott.
Tremayne died of heart failure in Santa Monica, California, on December 19, 2003, at the age of 90, and was survived by his fourth wife, Joan Hertz.- Actor
- Director
Lito Cruz was born on 14 May 1941 in Berisso, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor and director, known for The One (2011), Sotto Voce (1996) and India pravile (2003). He died on 19 December 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Luan Peters was born on 18 June 1946 in Bethnal Green, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Doctor Who (1963), Freelance (1970) and Z Cars (1962). She died on 19 December 2017 in London, England, UK.- Manuel Moneo was born in 1949 in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalucía, Spain. He was married to Dolores Suárez. He died on 19 December 2017 in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain.
- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian department of "Eagle Lion Films" in Rome and joined a drama club, where he was discovered by director Luchino Visconti. In 1957 Visconti gave him the starring part in his Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation White Nights (1957) and in 1958 he was fine as a little thief in Mario Monicelli's comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). But his real breakthrough came in 1960, when Federico Fellini cast him as an attractive, weary-eyed journalist of the Rome jet-set in La Dolce Vita (1960); that film was the genesis of his "Latin lover" persona, which Mastroianni himself often denied by accepting parts of passive and sensitive men. He would again work with Fellini in several major films, like the exquisite 8½ (1963) (as a movie director who finds himself at a point of crisis) and the touching Ginger & Fred (1986) (as an old entertainer who appears in a TV show). He also appeared as a tired novelist with marital problems in Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte (1961), as an impotent young man in Mauro Bolognini's Bell' Antonio (1960) , as an exiled prince in John Boorman's Leo the Last (1970), as a traitor in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Allonsanfan (1974) and as a sensitive homosexual in love with a housewife in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for Divorce Italian Style (1961), A Special Day (1977), and Oci ciornie (1987). During the last decade of his life he worked with directors, like Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bertrand Blier and Raúl Ruiz, who gave him three excellent parts in Three Lives and Only One Death (1996). He died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.- Michael Alldredge was born on 13 April 1941 in Taft, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Scarface (1983), V (1983) and Robot Jox (1989). He was married to Liza Jane Prince and Judith Lue Pilant. He died on 19 December 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Soundtrack
- Music Department
- Composer
Norman Gimbel was a native New Yorker who put his teaching degree from Columbia University into his safe and went downtown to pursue a career in songwriting instead. His first job in the music world was as an office boy for a music publisher in the famed Brill Building. There he met composer Larry Coleman and lyricist Joe Darion and with them wrote his first hit, "Ricochet Romance." Shortly after that, with composer-pianist Eddie Heywood, he wrote "Canadian Sunset."
His work caught the attention of Frank Loesser, who signed Gimbel as a contract writer. Under Loesser's guidance, he met composer Moose Charlap, with whom he wrote two Broadway musicals, Whoop-Up and The Conquering Hero.
In 1963, publisher Lou Levy introduced Gimbel to a young composer named Antonio Carlos Jobim. Gimbel would go on to write English versions of many of Jobim's songs, most notably the lyrics for "Meditation," "How Insensitive," "Agua de Beber (Water to Drink)," "Song of the Sabia," and "The Girl From Ipanema." Gimbel also wrote English lyrics for "Watch What Happens," and the Academy Award-nominated song "I Will Wait for You," both by Michel Legrand. For Jean "Toots" Thielemans he wrote the lyrics for his jazz waltz, "Bluesette."
In the spring of 1968, Gimbel moved to Hollywood where he became active in film and television. Among the composers he worked with there were Lalo Schifrin, Maurice Jarre, Quincy Jones, Jack Elliot, Bill Conti, Michel Colombier, Henry Mancini, Peter Matz, Pat Williams, Robert Folk, David Shire, Fred Karlin, and his daughter, Nelly Gimbel. His principal collaborator was Charles Fox.
Gimbel had some of his biggest successes with Fox, with whom he wrote TV title songs to "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "Wonder Woman," "Angie," and "The Paper Chase." Their collaboration also included "I Got A Name" for the 1973 film The Last American Hero. This became a Top 10 hit for Jim Croce. Fox and Gimbel also gave us "Killing Me Softly With His Song," which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1973 and was ranked No. 11 on BMI's 1999 list of "Top 100 Songs of the Century." Also with Fox he wrote "Richard's Window" for the film The Jill Kinmont story. This received an Academy Award Nomination in 1975. They received another Academy Award nomination in 1978 for "Ready to Take a Chance Again," from the film Foul Play. In collaboration with composer David Shire, for the 1979 film Norma Rae, he wrote "It Goes Like It Goes," the song that won Gimbel an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Norman Gimbel's songs have appeared in over four hundred motion picture and television shows. Gimbel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.- Paul Maxwell was born on 12 November 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was an actor, known for Aliens (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He was married to Mary Lindsay. He died on 19 December 1991 in London, England, UK.
- Prince Randian was born in the Demarara district, British Guyana in 1871, the child of British Indian slaves. Born with tetra-amelia syndrome (the lacking of all four limbs), little is known about his early life or how he was discovered, but it seems his incredible adaptability did not go unnoticed. Reputedly, he was brought to the United States by P.T. Barnum in 1889 at the age of 18, performing as an "oddity" or "freak" at dime shows, museums and primarily at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York
For his act, Randian was billed as "the human caterpillar who crawls on his belly like a reptile." He wore a one-piece wool garment that fit tightly over his body, giving him the appearance of a caterpillar, snake or potato. He was efficient at moving from place to place by wriggling his hips and shoulders in a snake-like motion. He would demonstrate his astonishing ability to fend for himself regardless of his handicap. He would shave himself by securing a razor in a wooden block, paint with a brush or write with a pen by using his lips, and most famously, roll and light his own cigarette in his only film appearance, Freaks (1932) (1932). Randian was also said to have been a skilled carpenter, using his mouth and shoulders to manipulate his tools, and he kept all of the props and materials used in his act in a wooden box that he reportedly constructed, painted and installed a lock by himself using a saw, knife and hammer. "Someday," he used to say, "I'll build myself a house."
Randian could speak English, German and French in addition to Hindi, his native language. He married early in life to a Hindu woman known only as Princess Sarah, who remained devoted to him throughout his long 45-year career in the sideshow. The couple had four daughters, plus a son who later became his manager. They settled at 174 Water Street in Paterson, New Jersey.
Prince Randian died of a heart attack at 7:00 PM on December 19, 1934, shortly after his comeback performance at Sam Wagner's 14th Street Museum in New York. He was 63 years old. - Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Renata Tebaldi was and is surely one of the best Spinto soprano voices that any century has ever heard. She made her operatic debut, through bombed streets in 1944 in Mefistofele, as Elena. Then was hand picked for the reopening of La Scala, 46 by Toscanini. It was there that the legendary "Voice of an Angel" started. He put Tebaldi upon a podium, well above the choir, and said "I want your voice to sound as though an angel is coming from Heaven." That is how it all started.
Her career began to grow at the same time as Maria Callas, though, actually, if one delves into their respective careers, they were so different, performing only three or four roles at the same time. In 1950 Tebaldi was selected by both esteemed conductors, Toscanini and De Sabata, for their versions of the Verdi Requium. These recordings exist today, and one can see how her vocal splendor was soon to become an international phenomenon. Her operatic debut in the United States, was AIDA in '50 in SF. She was booked just opon hearing a few of her recordings.
Tebaldi was so lucky, as she began her career just as the recording industry was beginning to record complete operas on LP. Decca/London quickly signed this promising new talent, and she continued to record for the label until 1974. She often recorded her repertoire twice, one in mono, then in Stereo, as her vocal and dramatic prowess only increased with time. Her legendary Decca recordings are mostly still in print, Aida, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, La Fanciulla del West, Otello (in which she was unsurpassed as Desdemona), Andrea Chenier, Adrianna, La Wally, La Gioconda, Manon Lescaut, and Tosca. These are all available, on many labels, as live recordings as well.
Tebaldi's operatic career took one's breath away, just looking at the theatres she performed in, The Met, War Memorial, Covent Garden, San Carlos, Paris, Russia, Chicago Lyric, to name only a very few.
Her complete operas on video only give testament to her greatness, her absolutely gorgeous voice. Tosca '61 Stuttgart is now on DVD, along with her Andrea Chenier, with the wonderful and her recording partner, Mario del Monaco, Japan '61, Forza del Destino '58 with Corelli and Bastianini is also on DVD.
Her voice has been praised by Beverly Sills, Martina Arroyo, Joan Sutherland, and the great Caballe, who saw her as a youngster, and wanted to be like her. Also the many tenors who worked with her, Del Monaco, Di Stefano, Bjorling, Morell, and Richard Tucker, always praised her in every way possible. So did Franco Corelli, whom, both tall and good-looking, often left audiences spellbound, with their looks and singing.
To this day, she still is in great health, and loves to hear from her fans. She does consider them as family, as she feels she sacrificed a family for a career, way before it was acceptable for a woman to do so. But her fan base only grows. All you have to do is put on just one track of a Tebaldi CD, or record, to know why.- Actor
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Richard Venture was born on 12 November 1923 in New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Heartbreak Ridge (1986), Missing (1982) and Scent of a Woman (1992). He was married to Katherine Catalano, Lorraine Venture, Olivia Cole and Grayce Grant. He died on 19 December 2017 in Chester, Connecticut, USA.- The British actor Ronald Howard was born in Norwood, London, England, in 1918. He and his younger sister Leslie Ruth Howard were raised by their mother Ruth Evelyn Martin and their father, the renowned actor Leslie Howard. After college, Howard became a newspaper reporter for a while but decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become an actor.
He got his first taste of acting when he appeared with his father in an uncredited bit part in 'Pimpernel' Smith (1941). In the early 1940s, Howard gained acting experience in regional theater, later on the London stage, and eventually in films, with his official debut in While the Sun Shines (1947). His chief claim to fame is in television with his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock Holmes (1954), in which Howard Marion-Crawford played Dr. Watson. Boyishly handsome with a pleasant demeanor, Howard continued in film and television until the mid-1970s; however, he never caught on with audiences as well as his father had, prompting him to put aside his acting career to run an art gallery. In the 1980s, he wrote a biography of his father. - Saoul Mamby was born on 6 June 1947 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Law & Order (1990), Heart (1987) and New York Undercover (1994). He died on 19 November 2019 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.
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This accomplished voice actress with an ear for accents, first made her mark on Jack Benny's radio program in the dual role of wisecracking, gum-chewing telephone operator Mabel Flapsaddle and Jack's plumber girlfriend Gladys. Brunette Sara Berner's real name was Lillian Herdan and she was born in Albany, New York, in January 1912. Her family moved to Oklahoma where she studied drama for two years at Tulsa University. Before she came to notice with the Major Bowes Amateur Hour on radio to embark on nationwide tours with their all-girl unit, Sara's instinctive talents sometimes got her into trouble -- such as being fired from an earlier job as a salesgirl at a Philadelphia department store for mimicking the customers. Of course, this turned out to be a blessing. Job offers in the entertainment industry abounded in the 1930's and 40's for those who possessed genuine talent, and, above all, versatility. As both a comedienne and a natural dialectician, Sara went on to earn five times the salary she would have made in retail. Her stock in trade were exaggerated ethnic dialects, her gallery of voices including Hillbilly, Yiddish (Mrs. Horowitz in "Life with Luigi"), Italian (Mrs. Mataratza on "The Jimmy Durante Show"), Spanish (Chiquita on the Gene Autry program), Greek, Polish and Armenian (to get the hang of this one, she resorted to telephoning assorted Armenian rug dealers!). By 1950, Sara had her own comedy detective series on network radio -- "Sara's Private Caper" -- as a former police secretary, turned sleuth. Sadly, despite the assemblage of a good supporting cast, the show flopped (then again, this was something even the great Mel Blanc had experienced four years earlier).
Beginning in 1933, Sara worked extensively in Hollywood -- primarily in animation -- though rarely receiving screen credit. She was particularly successful mimicking Katharine Hepburn's voice, which she first did to much acclaim on the "Eddie Cantor Show". This led to a spate of cartoon roles with Walt Disney (Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938)); Walter Lantz (Hollywood Bowl (1938)) and Leon Schlesinger at Warner Brothers (Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938)). Perhaps her 'signature voice' from those years was that of Beaky Buzzard's Italian Mamma, first heard on The Bashful Buzzard (1945). That same year, she also voiced the cartoon mouse Jerry, dancing with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh (1945). According to a 1949 news article -- shortly after the movie was broadcast -- Sara received a parcel with an assortment of cheeses from a Wisconsin admirer. Such can be the fringe benefits of fame.
Her subsequent work in animation encompassed providing the voices for Andy Panda and cartoon penguin Chilly Willy for Walter Lantz's studio. There was also regular work as a small-part supporting player in films and television. Sara repeated her Mabel role on The Jack Benny Program (1950). Other than that, she was destined to round off her career in no-name parts, cameos and walk-ons, most memorably as the dog-owning upstairs neighbour in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954). Sara made her final TV appearance in 1967 and died just two years later in Van Nuys, California, aged 57.- Production Designer
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Production designer Therese DePrez, best known for her work on "Black Swan," "Stoker," and "High Fidelity," died past 19 Dec 2017 at her home in New York City. Deprez was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer the year before. DePrez received an Art Directors Guild excellence in production design award, among other honors. She was 52.