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RIP Mary Blake

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RIP Mary Blake

 

U-T San Diego

November 2, 2014

 

Helms, Caroline Houseman 03/18/1916 ~ 10/22/2014 "A Life Well Lived" RANCHO SANTA FE-- Our beloved mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother, Caroline Houseman Helms passed away on October 22, 2014, at the age of 98. Mere words cannot express the loss that our family is now experiencing. She was the most kind, gentle, generous lady that we will ever know, and a shining example of love for all of us. Married to the love of her life, Paul Hoy Helms Jr. for 71 years, Caroline was the mother of two children, Suzanne and Paul, grandmother to eight, and great-grand- mother to thirteen. She touched countless lives, and people who knew her were better for it. Caroline was a tireless volunteer who supported many worthy causes, was a longtime Sunday school teacher, and very active in her church. She was a member of a book club, a bowling league, enjoyed golf and because she and Paul attended Stanford University, she was an avid Stanford fan. Caroline was a mentor to all of her family, and a guiding light in the good and not so good times that happen in all of our lives. Her light which shined on all of us will never be forgotten or extinguished; she now joins Dad Helms in heaven where he has been patiently waiting for her for the past six years.

 

 

BLAKE, Mary (Caroline Houseman)

Born: 3/18/1916, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

Died: 10/22/2014, Rancho Santa Fe, California, U.S.A.

 

Mary Blake’s western – actress:

Code of the Range – 1936 (Janet Parker)


RIP Troy Nabors

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RIP Troy Nabors

 

Arizona Republic

By Staff

November 15, 2014

 

Rodeo entertainer, bullfighter, trick roper, comedian, actor (SAG), family man, and one of the last true cowboys --Troy Nabors passed away unexpectedly on the evening of November 10th, 2014 in Mesa, Arizona at the age of 83. Troy was born on October 2, 1931 in Antlers, Oklahoma to Buster & Mary Kay Nabors. He is survived by his beloved wife Janice "Jonnie" nee Elder of Mesa, AZ, son Randal (Karen) Robbins, grandsons Steven and William Robbins, 6 nephews, 10 nieces, and a large extended family. It was a long and winding road from his self-proclaimed "Okie" beginnings through his storied 50 years of show business. For 38 of those years, his housebroken and "educated" mule Slim was his constant companion and cohort. His cowboy comedy antics and trick roping brought him before President John F. Kennedy, President Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and countless captivated audiences. He performed at The Calgary Stampede in Canada, Pendleton Roundup in Oregon, Lakeside Rodeo in California (26 years), Phoenix Jaycees Rodeo of Rodeos, Parada Del Sol, Gilbert Days, Apacheland, and Legend City. He also performed many years at the Stardust Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, and won Best Contract Act of IPRA for 3 consecutive years. Above all, he was a good-hearted cowboy, and a friend to all who met him. Troy went from Okie beginnings and became a true Arizona son. A Celebration of Life ceremony will be held Monday, November 17th at 1:00PM at the Welcome Home Ranch, 26601 S. Val Vista Drive, Gilbert, AZ 85298. All are welcome to attend.

 

 

NABORS, Troy (Troy Calvin Nabors)

Born: 10/2/1931, Antlers, Oklahoma, U.S.A.

Died: 11/10/2014, Mesa, Arizona, U.S.A.

 

Troy Nabors’ western – actor:

Apache Blood – 1975 (Corporal Lem Hawkins)

RIP Glen A. Larson

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Glen A. Larson, Creator of TV’s 'Quincy M.E.,''Magnum, P.I.' and 'Battlestar Galactica,' Dies at 77

 

Hollywood Reporter

By: Mike Barnes

November 15, 2014

 

The writer-producer also was behind 'Knight Rider,''Fall Guy' and 'Six Million Dollar Man'

 

 

Glen A. Larson, the wildly successful television writer-producer whose enviable track record includes Quincy M.E., Magnum, P.I., Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider and The Fall Guy, has died. He was 77.

 

Larson, a singer in the 1950s clean-cut pop group The Four Preps who went on to compose many of the theme songs for his TV shows, died Friday night of esophageal cancer at UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, his son, James, told The Hollywood Reporter.

 

Larson also wrote and produced for such noteworthy series as ABC’s It Takes a Thief, starring his fellow Hollywood High School alum Robert Wagner as a burglar now stealing for the U.S. government, and NBC’s McCloud, with Dennis Weaver as a sheriff from Taos, N.M., who moves to Manhattan to help the big-city cops there.

 

After ABC spurned the original pilot for The Six Million Dollar Man (based on the 1972 novel Cyborg), Larson rewrote it, then penned a pair of 90-minute telefilms that convinced then-network executive Barry Diller to greenlight the action series, which starred Lee Majors as a former astronaut supercharged with bionic implants.

 

Other shows Larson created included Alias Smith & Jones, B.J. and The Bear, Switch (another series with Wagner), Manimal and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. He spent his early career at Universal Studios, inventing new shows and reworking others, before moving to 20th Century Fox in 1980 with a multiseries, multimillion-dollar deal.

 

With Lou Shaw, Larson conceived Quincy M.E., which starred Jack Klugman — coming off his stint on The Odd Couple — as a murder-solving Los Angeles medical examiner. A forerunner to such “forensic” dramas as CSI, the series ran for 148 episodes over eight seasons on NBC from 1976-83.

 

CBS’ Magnum, P.I., toplined by Tom Selleck as a charismatic Ferrari-driving private instigator based in Oahu, Hawaii, also aired eight seasons, running from 1980-88 with 162 installments. Larson created the ratings hit with Donald Bellisario, with whom he had worked on Quincy and Battlestar.

 

NBC’s Knight Rider, starring David Hasselhoff as a crime fighter aided by a Pontiac Trans-Am with artificial intelligence (K.I.T.T., drolly voiced by William Daniels), lasted four seasons and 90 episodes from 1982-86. And ABC’s Fall Guy, with Majors as a stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter, prevailed for five seasons and 113 episodes spanning 1981-86.

 

If you’re counting, Quincy, Magnum, Knight Rider and Fall Guy accounted for 513 hours of television and 21 combined seasons from 1976-88.

 

During a 2009 interview with the Archive of American Television, Larson was asked how he could possibly keep up with such a workload.

 

“I tried to stay with things until I thought they were on their feet and they learned to walk and talk,” he said.

 

“If you believe if something, you must will it through, because everything gets in the way. Everyone tries to steer the ship off course.”

 

Battlestar Galactica lasted just one season on ABC from 1978-79, yet the show had an astronomical
impact. Starring Lorne Greene and Richard Hatch as leaders of a homeless fleet wandering through space, featuring special effects supervised by Star Wars’ John Dykstra and influenced by Larson’s Mormon beliefs, Battlestar premiered as a top 10 show and finished the year in the top 25. But it was axed after 24 episodes because, Larson said, each episode cost “well over” $1 million.

 

“I was vested emotionally in Battlestar, I really loved the thematic things. I don’t feel it really got its shot, and I can’t blame anyone else, I was at the center of that,” said Larson, who years early had written a sci-fi script, Adam’s Ark, with a theme similar to Battlestar’s and had been mentored by Star Trek's Gene Coon. “But circumstances weren’t in our favor to be able to make it cheaper or to insist we make two of three two-hour movies [instead of a weekly one-hour series] to get our sea legs.”

 

Much like Star Trek before it, Battlestar became much more beloved after it was canceled. Universal packaged episodes into two-hour telefilms and added a “Battle of Galactica” attraction to its studio tour that proved hugely popular. A new version debuted in 2004 on the Sci-Fi Channel, followed by a spinoff, Caprica.

 

Yet for all his success, Larson had his share of critics.

 

Writer Harlan Ellison, in a 1996 book about his Star Trek teleplay for the famous episode “City on the Edge of Forever,” infamously called him “Glen Larceny,” accusing him of using movie concepts for his TV shows.

 

It often has been noted that Battlestar premiered soon after Star Wars, that Alias Smith & Jones arrived shortly after Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and that the setups for McCloud and B.J. and The Bear bore similarities to the Clint Eastwood films Coogan’s Bluff and Every Which Way But Loose, respectively.

 

“Larson is undeniably a controversial figure in TV history because of his reputation for producing video facsimiles of popular films, but scholars, fans and critics should also consider that ‘similarity’ is the name of the game in the fast world of TV productions,” John Kenneth Muir wrote in his 2005 book, An Analytical Guide to Television’s Battlestar Galactica. “Shows are frequently purchased, produced and promoted by networks not for their differences from popular productions, but because of their similarities.”

 

Fox in 1978 sued Battlestar studio Universal for infringing on Star Wars copyrights but lost the suit years later, vindicating Larson, who described his TV show as “Wagon Train heading toward Earth.”

 

He also said that Alias Smith & Jones was “certainly in the genre of Butch Cassidy, a New Wave western” and compared B.J. and the Bear to something along the lines of the 1977 film Smokey & the Bandit.

 

He was not apologizing for any of this.

 

“Television networks are a lot like automobile manufacturers, or anyone else who’s in commerce. If something out there catches on with the public … I guess you can call it ‘market research,’ ” he said in the TV Archive interview. “You can go in and pitch one idea at a network and they’ll say, ‘You know, we’d really like it if you had something a little more like this.’ ”

 

And the trend goes on: new versions of Battlestar, Knight Rider, Manimal, Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy have been floated about for the big screen in recent years.

 

Glen Albert Larson was born an only child on Jan. 3, 1937, in Long Beach, Calif. He and his parents moved to Los Angeles when he was young, and he became enthralled with the art of storytelling while listening to hour after hour of radio shows.

 

He met Wagner while hitchhiking to Hollywood High and landed a job as a page at NBC, then home to such live anthologies as Lux Video Theatre and Matinee Theatre.

 

Music took over when Capitol Records A&R exec Nik Venet signed The Four Preps to a long-term contract in 1956, and the wholesome youngsters recorded such hits as “Twenty Six Miles (Santa Catalina),” “Big Man,"“Dreamy Eyes” and "Down by the Station."

 

“Ultimately, The Four Preps’ biggest influence can be heard via their impact on Brian Wilson, whose harmony-driven production for The Beach Boys was a direct antecedent of The Four Preps’ sound,” or so says a biography of the group on AllMusic.com.

 

The Preps appeared on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, The Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand, played college campuses around the country and toured the world. But with a new wife and child, Larson wanted to get off the road, so he pursued a career in television and sold a story idea for a 1966 episode of The Fugitive.

 

Larson then wrote an episode of It Takes a Thief, and within the short span of a season he went from story editor to producing the series.

 

He created his first show, the ABC Western Alias Smith and Jones, which starred Peter Duel and Ben Murphy as outlaw cousins trying to go straight. He exited the series soon after Duel died of a self-inflicted gunshot on New Year’s Eve in 1971.

 

He did not get along with Klugman on Quincy and eventually left the show in the hands of Bellisario.

 

Selleck, who was under contract at Universal and had done a couple of pilots that had not made it to series, was obligated to do Magnum, whose pilot was written by Bellisario.

 

“We got the star, it was a perfect fit,” said Larson, who was a fan of the 1960s CBS series Hawaiian Eye, which centered on a detective agency. “I had a house over there [in Hawaii] and a guy [like Selleck’s character] who lived in a guest house and took care of it.”

 

Larson based the unseen novelist character Robin Masters, the owner of the home, on author Harold Robbins.

 

After years at Universal — where he also did The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries for ABC and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century for NBC — Larson left for Fox. But to get out of his Universal deal, he had to give the studio one more show, and that would be Knight Rider.

 

“Michael Knight [Hasselhoff’s character] in a way is a prototyped by the Lone Ranger,” Larson said. “If you think about him riding across the plains and going from one town to another to help law and order, then K.I.T.T. becomes Tonto.”

 

At Fox in the spring of 1983, he sold four new series: Manimal to ABC and Trauma Center, Automan and Masquerade to ABC, but all were quickly canceled.

 

Larson’s next show, CBS’ Cover Up — about a photographer (Jennifer O’Neill) who replaces her late husband as an undercover CIA agent — lasted one season. During production, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died as a result of an accidental self-inflicted blank-cartridge gunshot wound on the set.

 

In July 2011, Larson sued Universal, alleging a decades-long fraud perpetrated by a studio that he said never once sent him profit participation statements despite his shows earning hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

More recently, Larson reteamed up with The Four Preps, reuniting in 2004 for a PBS reunion show, Magic Moments, with best friends and fellow group members David Somerville and Bruce Belland.

 

Survivors include his wife Jeannie, brother Kenneth and nine children (including his son James) from former wives Carol Gourley and Janet Curtis: Kimberly, Christopher, Glen, Michelle, David, Caroline, Danielle and Nicole.

 

A memorial service will be held in the near future, his son said.

 

Despite his remarkable career churning out hits, Larson earned but three Emmy nominations, two for producing McCloud and one (for outstanding drama) for Quincy. He never won.

 

His shows, Larson said in the TV Archive interview, “were enjoyable, they had a pretty decent dose of humor. All struck a chord in the mainstream. What we weren’t going to do was win a shelf full of Emmys. We got plenty of nominations for things, but ours were not the kind of shows that were doing anything more than reaching a core audience. I would like to think we brought a lot of entertainment into the living room.”

 

 

LARSON, Glen A. (Glen Albert Larson)

Born: 1/3/1937, Long Beach, California, U.S.A.

Died: 11/14/2014, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

 

Glen A. Larson’s westerns – producer, screenwriter:

The Virginian (TV) – 1970 [screenwriter], 1972 [producer]

Alias Smith and Jones (TV) – 1971-1973, [screenwriter], 1971-1972 [producer]

RIP Mary-Edith Schreiber

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Freie-Presse

11/15/2014

 

Mourning for actress

 

Mary Edith Schreiber said goodbye once with the role of Mrs. Higgins from the stage. Now the great lady of the theater is dead.

 

A Life in the Theatre has completed itself. The artist Mary-Edith Schreiber has died at the age of 93 years. With her recurring role as Mrs. Higgins in "My Fair Lady" production of Michael Heinicke they had once retired into private life. Older theater goers will remember their roles, for example in Goldoni's "The Campiello" or the Indian-piece "Cat Game" by István Örkény directed by Gerhard Meyer. The longtime theater director Hartwig Albiro took in Karl Marx-Stadt in 1970 his work. As writer was already a respected member of the ensemble, because she came in 1953 to the house. "If the concept is accepted: She was a real theater horse, a Vollblutkomödiantin through and through, which burned for their profession, about the role concerns to the overall situation of the ensemble committed", so Albiro.

 

Two of her roles were legendary: the Commissioner in the "Optimistic Tragedy" by Vsevolod Vishnevsky and Anna in Brecht / Weill's "The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petty Bourgeois". For it was by the spectacle of another passion of the writer: the chanson. So Albiro recalls that connoisseurs claiming that their part in the "Seven Deadly Sins" was magnificent, "better than the Gisela May," the legendary singer Brecht in the GDR. Until the turn Schreiber was active in the theater, they do not always stand in the forefront, "but very often," said Albiro, who appreciated the reliability and the precision with which they worked. Drama students she taught in the art song. After the turn, there were some minor encounters with her on the operatic stage, as in "Fiddler on the Roof" and 1997 in Kálmán's operetta "Countess Maritza". About the re-encounter with the audience she said herself: "This is something you need to live."

 

The funeral service will be held on December 12 at 14 clock instead of on the castle cemetery.

 

 

SCHREIBER, Mary-Edith

Born: 5/31/1921, Hannover, Niedersachsen Germany

Died: 11/1?/2014, Germany

 

Mary-Edith Schreiber’s western – actress:

Karl May – 1992 (Herta)

RIP Ken Takakura

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RIP Ken Takakura

Associated Press

By Mari Yamaguchi

November 18, 2014

 

 

Veteran Japanese actor Ken Takakura dies at 83

 

Ken Takakura, a craggy-faced, quiet star known for playing outlaws and stoic heroes in scores of Japanese films, has died of lymphoma. He was 83.

 

Perhaps best known abroad for his police inspector role in Ridley Scott's "Black Rain" in 1989, Takakura died November 10 at a Tokyo hospital where he was treated for the illness, according to his office and media reports Tuesday.

 

He surged to stardom after his 1956 debut, becoming an icon in yakuza films such as "Abashiri Prison" in the 1960s. Much of his appeal to the Japanese public stemmed from his image as a hero fighting authority figures on behalf of the poor and weak.

 

But in a career spanning more than 200 films he sometimes played comic roles, such as his 1992 potrayal of a coach in "Mr. Baseball."

 

Likened to Clint Eastwood, Takakura starred in detective stories and dramas including the 1977 film "The Yellow Handkerchief" and 1999's "Railroad Man," which won him a best actor award at the Montreal World Film Festival.

 

The news of his death topped Japanese news programs almost nonstop, and major newspapers distributed extras in downtown Tokyo.

 

Unlike many Japanese celebrities, Takakura shunned the usual rounds of television variety shows and melodramas, maintaining a John Wayne-like aura of toughness.

 

Born in 1931 as Goichi Oda in Fukuoka, southern Japan, he was recruited by a major film production while he was applying for a managerial position.

 

Takakura's friends and admirers described him as humble, honest and reserved in his real life, too.

 

"He was the last big star (in Japan)," said Shintaro Ishihara, 82, an award-winning writer and politician. "And yet, Ken-san lived a really healthy, sound life, unlike many other stars who often end up paying the price later on."

 

Even though he played many outlaw roles in yakuza films, Takakura said today's gangster movies didn't interest him.

 

"I like movies that picture the human heart and linger with me," he told an interviewer of the Japan Subculture Research Center. "The Deer Hunter,"''Gladiator," and "The Godfather" were among his favorites, he said.

 

In the 2012 award-winning "Dearest," the last of Takakura's films, he plays a retired prison warden who goes on a soul-searching trip with a postcard that arrived after his wife's death.

 

According to a fax released by his office, Takakura was preparing for his next project while in the hospital.

 

In 2013, when Takakura attended a ceremony to receive Japan's highest cultural award, the Order of Culture, at the Imperial Palace, he joked that he had often played characters considered most distant from the exalted realm of the palace.

 

"In movies, I'm most often an ex-convict. I'm grateful for the award despite many of these roles I've played," Takakura said. "I really believe that hard work pays off."

 

 

TAKAKURA, Ken (Goichi Oda)

Born: 2/16/1931 Nakama, Fukuoka, Japan

Died: 11/10/2014, Tokyo, Japan

 

Ken Takakura’s western – actor:

The Drifting Avenger – 1968 (Ken Kato)
 

RIP Mimi Walters

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RIP PRENTICE--Mimi Walters


The New York Times

By Staff

November 20, 2014

 

Dancer, singer, actress and loving wife, passed away on November 16th in New York City. First dancing professionally at the age of three or four, Ms. Prentice performed on Broadway in "Annie Get Your Gun," and toured with Guy Lombardo and his band. She also acted in television commercials and appeared in Bonanza. In 1968 she became the first woman Account-Executive at the Wilding Firm in New York City, where she worked for two years. Then she met and married the love of her life, the late Spelman Prentice, a grandson of John D. Rockefeller. She is survived by five step-children, sixteen step- grandchildren, and twenty two great-grandchildren. She was a private, perceptive, loyal, feisty, and loving woman with a great deal of presence. She will be missed. A memorial service will be held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel at 81st Street and Madison Ave on Friday, November 21st at 11am. Donations can be made in in her memory to The Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

 

 

WALTERS, Mimi

Born: 11/21/1920

Died: 11/16/2014, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

 

Mimi Walters’ western – actress:

Bonanza (TV) – 1964 (Marie)

RIP G.C. 'Rusty' Meek

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RIP G.C. ‘Rusty’ Meek

 

The Arizona Republic

By Staff

October 12, 2014

 

Meek, G. C. (Rusty) 89, Died peacefully at his home in Scottsdale on 9/16/2014. Rusty came to the Valley in 1970 to work on "The New Dick Van Dyke Show". He was a WWII Navy Veteran and worked in all facets of the Motion Picture Industry, starting in Cartooning and finishing in Production. He was a member of "The Order Franciscan Seculars". He is survived by his adoring wife Jo Jean, Children, Barbara (Bill), David (Delia), Christina (Moose), Victoria (Steve), Kimberly (Dale) and Elizabeth (Harry) He was a doting Grandfather to 11 Grandchildren, Jaclyn, Briana, Matthew, Giana, Joshua, Michael, Madelyn, Isabella, Alexandra, Nathaniel and Alexander and 3 Great-Grandchildren, Luis, Tristen, and Juan. The Meek Family wishes to thank the caregivers of Hospice of the Valley, Carolyn, Cindy and Brenda for the wonderful care of Rusty. Services to be held at the Franciscan Renewal Center, Saturday, October 18, 1:00 pm.

 

 

MEEK, Rusty (George C Meek)

Born: 3/5/1925, Missouri, U.S.A.

Died: 9/16/2014, Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A.

 

Rusty Meek’s westerns – assistant director, production manager:

Giant – 1956 [assistant director]

Maverick (TV) – 1958, 1959 [assistant director]

Sugarfoot (TV) – 1958, 1959 [assistant director]

Lawman (TV) – 1959 [assistant director]

Bronco (TV) – 1959 [assistant director]

Barquero – 1970 [assistant director]

Gon with the West – 1975 [production manager]

Banjo Hackett: Roamin’ Free (TV) – 1976 [assistant director]

Stagecoach (TV) – 1986 [production manager]

RIP J.E. Freeman

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RIP J. E. Freeman

 

Dial M for Movies

By Rhett Bartlett

November 3, 2014

 

J. E. Freeman – ‘Wild at Heart’ and ‘Miller’s Crossing’ gangster, has died aged 68.

 

J. E. Freeman – who portrayed hired mobster Marcello Santos in David Lynch’s crime thriller Wild at Heart (1990), and was the henchman Eddie Dane in the Coen Brothers gangster film Miller’s Crossing (1990), has died aged 68.

 

His death, in the evening of August 9th 2014, was confirmed to me by his agent Christopher Black. As per Mr Freeman’s wishes, no memorial or official announcement of his passing was to be made at that time.

 

‘He was an extraordinary actor and person and I count myself fortunate to have known and represented him’, his agent told me in an email on November 3 2014.

 

J. E. Freeman also appeared in Alien: Resurrection (1997), the fourth instalment of the Alien film series. He was Dr Mason Wren, the head of the scientific team that successfully clones Ellen Ripley.

 

In the black comedy Ruthless People (1986), he is the local serial killer ‘The Bedroom Killer’ whose death occurs after he falls down the basement stairs.

 

He also appeared in Patriot Games (1992) , Copycat (1995), and played Victor Snr, the owner of the strip club in Go (1999).

 

The cause of his passing was not disclosed.

 

 

FREEMAN, J.E.

Born: 2/2/1946, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 8/9/2014, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

 

J.E. Freeman’s birthday – actor:

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins – 2004 (Old Fred)


RIP Bob Baker

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Bob Baker, Puppeteer Whose Theater Was L.A. Institution, Dies at 90

 

Variety

By Staff

November 28, 2014

 

Puppeteer Bob Baker, whose marionette theater near downtown Los Angeles was an institution serving generations of kids, died Friday of natural causes. He was 90.

 

Baker, who launched the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in 1963, offered puppet shows in what was billed as one of the world’s oldest and longest-running children’s theater companies. In 2009, the theater’s location on First Street was named a Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument.

 

An L.A. native, Baker traveled the world with his famous marionette troupe. His work was featured in prominent films, ranging from Disney’s “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” to Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to the 1954 version of “A Star Is Born.” He was said to have an archive of more than 3,000 puppets.

 

Baker’s interest in puppetry was sparked at the age of 5 when he saw a puppet show at a downtown Los Angeles department store. Within a few years he was studying the art and competing in local talent shows.

 

Baker graduated from Hollywood High School and served in the Army Air Corps during WWII, when he worked at Lockheed Aircraft in Burbank. After his discharge, he worked for the George Pal Animation Studios. Amid labor unrest, he left Pal and began marketing his own line of marionettes. He created window displays for prominent retailers around the country — and he did the same for storefront windows on Disneyland’s Main Street, USA.

 

Baker’s workshop on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood became a magnet for future showbiz stars, including producer Bob Clampett, Stan Freberg and Daws Butler, who would go on to create a TV sensation locally with the KTLA-TV hand puppet series “Time for Beany.” In the late 1940s Baker also worked in local TV with the series “Adventures of Bobo.”

 

In the early 1960s, Baker teamed with Alton Wood to launch the marionette theater. He worked as an adviser to Disney and other studios, and was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences as well as the Television Academy.

 

 

BAKER, Bob (Robert Alison Baker III)

Born: 2/9/1924, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Died: 11/28/2014, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Bob Baker’s western – actor:

The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1966 (puppeteer)

RIP Chespirito

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Beloved Mexican Comedian Roberto Gomez Bolanos, Who Played ‘Chespirito,’ Dies at 85

 

Beloved Mexican actor and comedian Roberto Gomez Bolanos, best known for his role as “Chespirito,” has died, Televisa announced Friday. He was 85.

 

Bolanos passed away at his home in Cancun, Mexico, according to the Spanish-language television network. The cause of death was not immediately known.

 

The comedian was renowned for his signature character on the long-running TV series “El Chavo del Ocho,” in which he played a boy living in a neighborhood of Mexico City.

 

The first episode of the series that brought Bolanos international recognition aired in June 1971.

 

The actor’s other well-known roles included El Chapulín Colorado, El Chanfle and Chompiras.

 

 
Chespirito (Roberto Gomez Bolanos)

Born: 2/21/1929, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Died: 11/28/2014, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico

 

Chespirito’s western – director, actor, storywriter, songwriter:

Un par… a todo dar – 1951 [storywriter]

¡En peligro de muerte!1962 [songwriter]

Capulina 'Speedy' González: 'El Rápido – 1970 [songwriter]

Charrito – 1984 (Chespirito) [director, storywriter, screenwriter]

RIP Valentina Leyva

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Valentina Leyva has died

 

The singer died at the age of 67 years.

 

Ihey

November 29,2014

 

The singer of vernacular music Valentina Leyva died Saturday at 67 years old as a result of pancreatic cancer that was undermining her health for the last two months, so she informed her former representative in its infancy, Elena Medina.

 

Medina said in an interview with Notimex, Valentina Leyva, who was the interpreter's primary composer Federico Mendez, died this morning at his home, located in Naucalpan, State of Mexico.

 

"She was scheduled for a chemotherapy session to fight a cancerous growth, however it metastasis and invaded much of her body, even a couple of days before I saw she was very weak," said the current assistant actress and producer Carmen Salinas .

 

Elena Medina mentioned that ensure Valentina Leyva this Saturday afternoon at the premises of a funeral known located on Sullivan Street, then make cremation services Sunday at a private ceremony with family and friends.

 

Valentina Leyva participated in the Third Ranchera Song Festival, where she managed to win first place; she consolidated his career with the release of multiple disks with lyrics written by Federico Mendez, who composed her special topics.

 

 

LEYVA, Valentina

Born: 1947, Mexico

Died: 11/29/2014, Naucalpan, Mexico

 

Valentina Lyva’s westerns – actress:

Tierra sangrienta – 1979

Yo soy el asesino – 1987

RIP Jeff Truman

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RIP Jeff Truman

 

TV Tonight

By David Knox

December 2, 2014

 

Screenwriter and actor Jeff Truman, whose prolific body of work includes scripts for Neighbours, Packed to the Rafters, Underbelly, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Stingers, All Saints and Play School, has died, aged 57.

 

It’s understood he passed away in hospital with family and friends keeping vigil.

 

His family has paid tribute to his body of work, as both writer and performer, with more than 200 hours of screenwriting credits in Australia.

 

Truman received five AWGIE nominations, winning the award for Best Original Mini Series in 2013 for Underbelly: Badness.

 

His writing credits also include Rescue Special Ops, Wonderland, Fat Tony & Co., Tricky Business, Sea Patrol, City Homicide, The Strip, The Alice, Last Man Standing, McLeod’s Daughters, Blue Heelers, Above the Law, A Country Practice, Father of the Pride, Something in the Air, Home and Away, Shortland Street and E Street.

 

He has also written 2 of the upcoming episodes of the Rebecca Gibney series Winter.

 

He wrote the feature film Envy which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1999.

 

His acting credits include Superman Returns, The Quiet American, Bliss, Flirting, envy as well as roles on A Place to Call Home, Puberty Blues, Underbelly, All Saints, Stingers, Blue Heelers, Home and Away, Police Rescue, GP, A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Patrol Boat and Scales of Justice.

 

The Australian Writers’ Guild is yet to formally pay tribute to Jeff Truman but colleagues have described him as “a great bloke and a bloody good writer.”

 

 

TRUMAN, Jeff

Born: 1957, Australia

Died: 12/2/2014, Australia

 

Jeff Truman’s western – actor:

Bullseye – 1987 (Sergeant Willis)

RIP Danny Lee

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RIP Danny Lee

 

The Prescott Daily Courier

Staff

12/4/2014

 

Daniel (Danny) West Lee, 95, died Friday, Nov. 28, 2014. Born in Wisconsin on July 9, 1919, Danny was the son of Carl West Lee and Myrtle Smith Lee. In the 1920s, the Lees moved to California, where Carl found work doing special effects for the budding movie industry.

 

Danny followed in his father's footsteps, working for many different studios as a freelancer for special effects and traveling all over the world on location for almost 100 movies, including "Mary Poppins,""On the Beach,""The Great Race,""Bonnie and Clyde,""The Secret of Santa Vittoria,""The Ten Commandments,""It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World" and many more.

 

In 1969, Danny joined Disney Studios as head of the special effects department. There he worked on another 50 some movies, including the "Herbie" series, "Swiss Family Robinson,""Bedknobs and Broomsticks," for which he won an Oscar, and "The Black Hole," for which he received an Oscar nomination. He worked with many famous movie stars, and he was highly regarded in the motion picture industry for his skillful and creative work.

 

None of his special effects were computer-generated; he built automobiles, made explosions and blew up houses and cars, made rain, fires and wind, drove cars over cliffs, flew people and beds in the air, shot bad guys, built an army of coats-of-armor figures riding horseback, and many other special effects. Stuntmen liked to work for him because they never got hurt in the stunts he devised.

 

After he retired in 1981, Danny was asked to establish a special effects school to train young people in the profession. He and his wife, Jane, opened Danny Lee Studios in Chatsworth, California, and he taught clsses for several years. Danny and Jane moved to Prescott, Arizona, from Glendale,
California, 13 years ago. They built a home in The Ranch and settled down to enjoy retirement. They soon made warm friends here and enjoyed socializing. He loved fishing, feeding the birds and watching the wildlife in his backyard. He bought a computer, wrote an autobiography and learned to send emails. He died peacefully at Highgate Senior Living.

 

Danny is survived by his wife, Catharyn Jane Lee; a granddaughter, Stephanie Stamatelos; grandson James Stamatelos; great-granddaughter Alexis Stamatelos; and cousins Marjorie Conder, Lory and Michael Conder, Karen Conder Durazo, and Rachel and Rebecca Durazo. A number of other cousins in California and Wisconsin also survive him.

 

A memorial service for his friends and family is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, at Ruffner Wakelin Funeral Home, 303 S. Cortez St. in Prescott.

 

Memorial gifts may be sent to Hospice Compassus of Prescott or Liberty Ellis Island Foundation, one of the Lees' favorite charities.

 

Please log on to www.ruffnerwakelin.com to sign Danny's guestbook and share a memory with the family.

 

 

LEE, Danny (Daniel West Lee)

Born: 7/9/1919, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Died: 11/28/2014, Prescott, Arizona, U.S.A.

 

Danny Lee’s westerns – SFX:

The Apple Dumpling Gang – 1975

Treasure of Montecumbe - 1976

Hot Lead and Cold Feet - 1978

The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again - 1979

RIP Manuel DeSica

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Corriere Della Sera

Staff

December 5, 2014

 

Manuel De Sica dead in Rome

 

Son of Italian director, actor Vittorio De Sica, María Mercader

 

 

Was 65 years old. Songwriter, compositions and many scores, was nominated for an Oscar for "The
Garden of the Finzi-Continis"

 

Mourning in the world of Italian culture. He died in Rome, of a heart attack, the composer Manuel De Sica, son of Victor and Maria Mercader, brother Christian and Emi. He was born in Rome in February 1949. This was announced by the press office of Christian De Sica.

 

Manuel was a musician of great value, as demonstrated by the many soundtracks created, we remember especially the Oscar nomination for "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," but also his compositions concert performed by masters such as Salvatore Accardo and his songs interpreted among other things, by singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. Manuel De Sica had won the Golden Globe for "The Icicle Thief" by Maurizio Nichetti, Silver Ribbon for "Wolf, wolf" by Carlo Verdone and the David di Donatello for "Celluloid" Charles Lizzani. He also composed symphonic and chamber music with sonatas for harp, clarinet, and other solo instruments. Always committed to disseminate the work of Victor, has dedicated the book "Of son to father," released by Simon and Schuster in 2013. Manuel De Sica leaves his son Andrea, had by his first wife Tilde Corsi, and his second wife Maria Lucia Langella.

 

 

De SICA, Manuel

Born: 2/24/1949, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 12/5/2014, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Manuel DeSica’s westerns – composer:

They Call Him Veritas – 1972

Undead Men (TV) – 2011

RIP Renato Mambor

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Renato Mambor has died

 

INSIDEART

By: Staff

12/6/2014

 

Rome: Last night Renato Mambor died, one of the protagonists of the research in visual arts since the late 1950s. He had just turned 78 years of age. The Roman artist was traveling companions of Pascali, Ceroli, Schifano, Festa and Kounellis, which was part of what historically has been called the School of People's Square, considered the Italian response, between metaphysics and futurism, the American pop art. The distinctive features of his poetry are silhouettes and street signs, tracings, photo, stamps with men, paintings done with rollers upholstery, which make up its stylized figure of reduction of the icons of mass media culture. He had always accompanied an interest in theater, performance and passion for film, so much so that in the sixties he participated as an interpreter to Federico Fellini's film La Dolce Vita. A spirit of research never vanished for Mambor, much of that has continued to the end his incessant search for expression. His works have been exhibited in major museums around the world. He had also participated in the 46th Venice Biennale, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva.

 

MAMBOR, Renato

Born: 12/4/1936, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 12/5/2014, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Renato Mambor’s westerns – actor:

A Dollar of Fear - 1960 (Hurricane)

My Name is Pecos – 1966 (Brack Tedder)

If You Want to Live... Then Shoot! - 1967 (Dick Logan)

The Son of Django – 1967 (Clint Sullivan)

The Stranger Returns – 1967 (Alvarez)


RIP Ken Weatherwax

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RIP Ken Weatherwax

 

Examiner.com

By Staff

December 8, 2014

 

Ken Weatherwax, the actor who played Pugsley on TV’s ‘The Addams Family,” and later worked behind the scenes in movies, has died. He was 59 years old.

 

Weatherwax played Pugsley on the Addams Family, the popular TV series (1964-1966). His contribution has continued to maintain popularity, via reruns, with new generations of fans. Unable to find acting work after the series ended, Weatherwax returned to public school and endured mocking from other students, which he reacted to negatively. He was kicked out of several schools and enlisted in the army at age 17. He later found steady, productive work building sets for films.

 

Not bitter about his lack of continued acting roles, Weatherwax always recalled the Addams Family as a good experience, and as an adult was happy to be recognized by fans. He would appear at autograph shows regularly. He has appeared in Addams Family tribute shows and reunions, and also has been interviewed in documentaries about the series, and about TV during the sixties. Weatherwax has also appeared on Fox network’s “O’Reilly Factor,” discussing the difficulties he had after the series ended, and how his life turned around once he entered the army.

 

Weatherwax’s aunt was actress and dancer Ruby Keeler. His brother Joey Viera is an actor who, as Donald Keeler, played Porky on the first three seasons of Lassie with the late Tommy Rettig.

 

The social media sources indicate that Ken Weatherwax died in his sleep on Sunday morning, December 7, 2014. With his passing, the only regular cast members from The Addams Family still living are John Astin, Lisa Loring, and Felix Silla.

 

 

WEATHERWAX, Ken (Kenneth Patrick Weatherwax)

Born: 9/29/1955, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Died: 12/7/2014, Chula Vista, California, U.S.A.

 

Ken Weatherwax – actor:

Wagon Train (TV) – 1964 (stout boy)

RIP Eddie Rouse

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Character Actor Eddie Rouse Dies at 60

 

Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

December 9, 2014

 

He recently landed a key role in the upcoming HBO high-profile series 'Westworld'

 

 

Eddie Rouse, a versatile character actor who stood out in such films as American Gangster, The Number 23 and Pandorum, has died. He was 60.

 

Rouse, who just weeks ago filmed the pilot for the HBO series Westworld in Utah, died Sunday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles of liver failure, his manager, Stephen Spacek of Spacek Management, told The Hollywood Reporter.

 

Rouse starred as a Sammy Davis Jr. impersonator hired through Craigslist to perform at a boy’s birthday party in Todd Rohal’s Rat Pack Rat, which was funded through Kickstarter and won a jury prize in the shorts competition at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Last month, it screened at AFI Fest in Los Angeles.

 

“He really made our little short shine this year,” producer Clay Liford said on Twitter.

 

Rouse made his feature debut as a cranky uncle on David Gordon Green’s George Washington (2000) — it was Green's debut as a feature writer, director and producer, too  — and they reteamed for All the Real Girls (2003), a romantic drama with Zooey Deschanel, and the comedies Pineapple Express (2008) and The Sitter (2011), starring Jonah Hill.

 

He worked with Seth Rogen on Observe and Report (2009) and The Green Hornet (his scenes were cut from the 2011 film) as well as on Pineapple Express, and he showed off his dramatic chops by portraying a chef gone crazy in the horror film Pandorum (2009).

 

In addition to the 2007 releases American Gangster from directed Ridley Scott and The Number 23 from Joel Schumacher, Rouse had roles in the basketball movie Juwanna Mann (2002), in the Joaquin Phoenix faux documentary I’m Still Here (2010) and in the thriller Alyce Kills (2011).

 

He was quite busy as of late, with roles in Being Flynn (2012), Nature Calls (2012) and Low Down (2014).

 

On Westworld — set in a futuristic amusement park, executive produced by J.J. Abrams and based on the 1973 film written and directed by Michael Crichton — Rouse was to play Kissy, short for Kisecawchuck, a laconic American-Indian card and contraband dealer from the town's saloon.

 

“This was the thing he wanted so badly,” Spacek said, “to get in front of an audience to show the world what he was all about.”

 

Rouse went to Olney High School in Philadelphia and began his acting career with the city’s Bushfire Theatre of the Performing Arts. He attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he met Green and actor Danny McBride.

 

Rouse is survived by a son and daughter.

 

 

ROUSE, Eddie

Born: 1954, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Died: 12/7/2014, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Eddie Rouse’s western – actor:

Westworld (TV) – 2016 (Kissy)

RIP Mary Ann Mobley

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Mary Ann Mobley, the first Miss Mississippi crowned Miss America, died at her home in Beverly Hills, California Tuesday after a battle with breast cancer at the age of 75, Ole Miss has confirmed.

 

Mobley, who grew up in Brandon, was crowned Miss America in 1959.

 

Sam Haskell, chairman of the board and CEO of the Miss America Organization issued a statement:

 

"When I was a little boy growing up in Mississippi, there were two Mississippi stars who I idolized...one was Elvis Presley and the other was Mississippi's first Miss America Mary Ann Mobley. She was at the hospital when my children were born. She performed in many of my charitable concerts to raise money in Mississippi for needed educational funds as well as Hurricane Katrina victims. We shared a love for our Alma Mater Ole Miss, and we shared many mutual friends in our beloved home state of Mississippi. She challenged me, she loved me, and she made me laugh. I shall miss her."

 

Mobley graduated from Ole Miss in 1958 and was the university's first Carrier Scholar and later became the first woman voted into the Alumni Hall of Fame.

 

After her reign as Miss America ended, she went on become one of the most successful Miss Americas on Broadway, film and television. She co-starred in two Elvis Presley movies, "Girl Happy" and "Harum Scarum," and appeared on dozens of popular television series from the 1960s to the '90s, including "Perry Mason,""The Love Boat,""Love, American Style,""Diff'rent Strokes" and "Designing Women."

 

She also built a respected career as a documentary filmmaker, visiting Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and the Sudan to produce films on the plight of homeless and starving children. She was actively involved in raising money and awareness for both the March of Dimes and the United Cerebral Palsy Association.

 

She was married to the late Gary Collins, whom she met on the set of "Three on a Couch," the 1966 comedy she made with Jerry Lewis. Collins died in 2012 after they moved from Hollywood to Biloxi.

 

 

MOBLEY, Mary Ann

Born: 2/17/1939, Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.

Died: 12/9/2014, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.

 

Mary Ann Mobley’s western – actress:

The Virginian (TV) – 1967 (Ellie Willard)

Iron Horse (TV) – 1967 (Susan Carter)

The Legend of Custer (TV) – 1968 (Ann Landry)

The Legend of Custer – 1968 (Ann Landry)

RIP Sergio Fiorentini

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RIP Sergio Fiorentini 2


Coming Soon 
By Daniela Catelli

December 12, 2014

 

Those who grew up in the golden age of dubbing, with the great voices whose absence

today makes us prefer the films in their original language, surely remember the Mel Brooks Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles and Gene Hackman in films such as Superman, The Birdcage or the jury.

 

To give them their particular character actor's the voice was Sergio Fiorentini, who died in Rome on December 10 after a long illness.

 

He is most associated primarily with Gene Hackman, who he dubbed in 23 films. Many actors and the characters to which he gave their voice, is an impressive list, from Bill Cosby and Max Von Sydow to British television comedian Benny Hill, and many movies and TV series with Bud Spencer.

 

Fiorentini had starred as an actor in the cinema, even in such recent movies such as Io, loro e Lara di Carlo Verdone , Tutti al mare, Viva l'Italia e Una famiglia perfetta. Nel giugno di quest'anno. In June this year he completed the filming of a movie still unreleased, Il mio giorno by Stephen Usardi.

 

On TV he voiced such series as La piovra 7 , Il maresciallo Rocca (dove era il Brigadiere Cacciapuoti) e Distretto di Polizia (il padre di Mauro, il personaggio di Ricky Memphis), of the most famous.

 

His was a voice that we liked a lot and that there will no longer be able to hear.

 

 

FIORENTINI, Sergio
Born: 7/29/1934, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Died: 12/11/2014, Rome, Lazio, Italy
 
Sergio Fiorentini's westerns - voice actor:
Sting of the West – 1972 [Italian voice of Morris]

Three Musketeers of the West – 1973 [Italian voice of Chris Huerta]

Trinity, the Clown, the Guitar – 1974 [Italian voice of Mimmo Poli

Take a Hard Ride – 1975 [Italian voice of Harry Carey, Jr.]

California – 1977 [Italian voice of unknown character]

Silver Saddle – 1977 [Italian voice of Philippe Hersent]

Tex and the Lord of the Deep – 1985 [Italian voice of Hugo Blanco]

They Call Me Renegade – 1987 [Italian voice of Donal Hodson]

Troublemakers – 1994 [Italian voice of Bud Spencer]

RIP Phil Stern

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Phil Stern dies at 95; photographer to the stars

 

Los Angeles Times


Phil Stern, a renowned photographer for Life, Look and other magazines who honed his skills as a World War II combat photographer but was best known for capturing Hollywood icons and jazz legends in unguarded moments, died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 95.

 

His death was confirmed by Geoff Katz, his New York-based licensing representative. Stern, who reportedly suffered from emphysema and congestive heart failure, lived at the Veterans Home of California.

 

Among Stern's memorable Hollywood images during the heyday of his six-decade career:

 

— Marlon Brando, in jeans and black-leather jacket, striding across the outdoor set of "The Wild One."

 

— A bewildered-looking Marilyn Monroe with an impassive Jack Benny backstage at a benefit at the Shrine Auditorium.

 

— A young Sammy Davis Jr. seemingly defying gravity as he dances on a Hollywood Boulevard rooftop, the sky serving as a backdrop.

 

— A puffy-faced Judy Garland fussing with her hair during the filming of "A Star Is Born."

 

— John Wayne conferring with a cigar-chomping John Ford on the set of Wayne's "The Alamo."

 

Stern, who began shooting for Life in 1941, told the magazine in a 1993 interview that despite his access to Hollywood's elite, he was rarely a confidante of the stars he photographed.

 

"I was like the plumber who comes to fix your toilet, then you don't see him again," he maintained. Besides, he said, “I didn't care to know them, usually — so many of them were frankly a pain."

 

In the end, the blunt, sometimes gruff photographer viewed himself simply as a "hired paparazzo."

 

Sad to see his passing. Ironic to know Kodak pioneered the free-camera-pay-film plan that the shaving companies, and then printing companies adopted to a level.

 

For several decades, Stern also shot album covers for the Verve, Pablo and Reprise record labels; he and his camera were fixtures at recording sessions with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and other jazz greats. In a recent conversation with The Times, Stern said his interest in photography emerged when he was 12 and his mother got him a free camera in a Kodak promotional giveaway.

 

“They offered any 12-year-old child a free, brand-new Kodak camera,” he recalled. “Those were box cameras. Of course, Eastman Kodak had an agenda here. They gave away free cameras, God knows how many, thousands of them, and the only place you could get film at that time was from Eastman Kodak. The sales of films, of course, skyrocketed after giving away these cameras.”

 

 

STERN, Phil

Born: 9/3/1919, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Died: 12/13/2014, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Phil Stern’s westerns – still photographer:

El Dorado – 1966

Take a Hard Ride – 1975

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