RIP William Schallert

May 9, 2016, 12:01 pm

William Schallert, 93, Dies; Prolific Actor Was Father on ‘The Patty Duke Show’

New York Times

James Endrst

May 9, 2016

William Schallert, a familiar presence on prime-time television for decades, notably as the long-suffering father and uncle to the “identical cousins” played by Patty Duke on the hit 1960s sitcom “The Patty Duke Show,” died on Sunday in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 93.

His son, Edwin, confirmed the death.

Mr. Schallert’s career spanned generations and genres. Over more than 60 years he racked up scores of credits in episodic television as well as noteworthy performances in motion pictures, on the Off Broadway stage and as a voice-over artist.

With his preternaturally mature, intelligent but (by Hollywood standards) unremarkable looks, he was cast almost from the beginning as an authority figure — a father or a teacher, a doctor or a scientist, a mayor or a judge. Most active from the 1950s through the ’80s, Mr. Schallert remained seemingly unchanged in appearance and persona over time, and he was still working in his 90s, dismissing any thoughts of retirement.

On television it sometimes seemed as if he was everywhere. A versatile character actor with a comforting presence, he was equally at home in comedies and dramas, with a résumé ranging from “Leave It to Beaver,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Dr. Kildare” and “The Wild Wild West” to “Melrose Place,” “True Blood” and “Desperate Housewives.”

Before joining the ranks of harried sitcom fathers as Martin Lane on “The Patty Duke Show” (1963-66), he was the equally harried teacher Leander Pomfritt, bane of the title character, on “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” (1959-62). He also earned a permanent place in the hearts of “Star Trek” fans in 1967 when he played Nilz Baris, under secretary in charge of agricultural affairs for the United Federation of Planets in “The Trouble With Tribbles,” often cited by fans and critics as one of the best episodes of the original “Star Trek” series.

Never a leading man, Mr. Schallert was instead a high-caliber embodiment of the working actor.

In an interview for this obituary in 2009, Mr. Schallert said he had never been particularly selective about the roles he played. “That’s not the best way to build a career,” he admitted, “but I kept on doing it, and eventually it paid off.”

While the typical William Schallert character was focused and serious, he expressed particular affection for an atypical role: the wildly decrepit Admiral Hargrade, a recurring character on the spy spoof “Get Smart” (1967-70), who operated in a perpetual state of confusion. (“He reminded me of my grandmother when she got dotty,” Mr. Schallert said.)

His film career, which began in 1947 with small roles in “The Foxes of Harrow” and “Doctor Jim,” was memorable at first for its kitsch value. He made his mark playing intense doctors and scientists in science-fiction fare like “The Man From Planet X” (1951), “Gog” (1954) and “The Incredible Shrinking Man” (1957). Years later, the director Joe Dante paid tribute to Mr. Schallert’s cinematic roots by casting him in his valentine to 1950s schlock cinema, “Matinee” (1993), where he was seen in the film within the film, a black-and-white horror sendup called “Mant.”

He went on to play more substantial screen parts, particularly as the small-town Mississippi mayor in “In the Heat of the Night” (1967) and as the judge in “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” (1972). He had won an Obie Award for playing the same role in the Off Broadway play on which that movie was based, drawn from the trial of nine Catholic activists who burned military draft files in Maryland in 1968 to protest the Vietnam War. (One character, and actual participant, was the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, who died on April 30.)

Behind the scenes, Mr. Schallert was the versatile voice of various characters in the cartoon series “The Smurfs,” animated characters in commercials, and Abraham Lincoln at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill.

Mr. Schallert was president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1979 to 1981, a bitter period in its history highlighted by a protracted 1980 strike over rates and residuals for cable and satellite television and home video. Resentment over the final settlement ran high, and when he ran for re-election in 1981 he was defeated by Edward Asner, although Mr. Asner had no experience as a board member or officer. (Mr. Schallert’s former television daughter Patty Duke was president of the union from 1985 to 1988. Ms. Duke died on March 29.)

William Joseph Schallert was born on July 6, 1922, in Los Angeles. His father, Edwin Francis Schallert, was a longtime critic and drama editor for The Los Angeles Times; his mother, the former Elza Emily Baumgarten, was a celebrity journalist and radio commentator.

He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, with the intention of becoming a composer, studying at one point under Arnold Schoenberg. But, he said, he came to the conclusion that he could not “work fast enough to make a living” in music, and his interest turned to acting. He found his father’s name helpful in opening doors in Hollywood.

Mr. Schallert became active in theater while a student and in 1946 was a founder with the actor Sydney Chaplin and others of the highly regarded Circle Theater in Hollywood, where he appeared in a production of W. Somerset Maugham’s “Rain” directed by Mr. Chaplin’s father, Charles Chaplin.

In 1952, Mr. Schallert traveled to Britain on a Fulbright Fellowship to study British repertory theater. He was a guest lecturer at Oxford before returning to Los Angeles.

He married Rosemarie Diann Waggner, an actress known professionally as Leah Waggner, in 1949. She died last year. Besides his son Edwin, he is survived by three other sons, Joseph, Mark and Brendan, and seven grandchildren.

Looking back on his career in 2009, Mr. Schallert was philosophical. “I’ve never been single-minded in my pursuit of acting as a career,” he said. “Whatever it was that got me hired and kept me working probably was just me.”

SCHALLERT, William (William Joseph Schallert)

Born: 7/6/1922, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Died: 5/8/2016, Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.A.

William Schallert’s westerns – actor:

Belle Le Grand – 1951 (clerk)

The Red Badge of Courage - 1951 (Union Soldier)

Rose of Cimarron – 1952 (gold bullion guard

The Raid – 1954 (rebel soldier)

Death Valley Days (TV) – 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962 (Ellis Higby, gate sentry, Springer, Dave Meiser, Sam Clemens)

Smoke Signal – 1955 (Pvt. Livingston)

Lux Video Theatre “The Copperhead” (TV) – 1955 (Sam Carter)

Friendly Persuasion – 1956 (young husband)

Gunslinger – 1956 (Marshal Scott Hood)

Massacre at Sand Creek (TV) - 1956 (Defense Attorney at Court-Martial)

Raw Edge – 1956 (missionary)

The Lone Ranger (TV) – 1956 (Clive)

Playhouse 90 “Massacre at Sand Creek” (TV) - 1956) (Capt. Kingsley)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1957, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1973 (Eben Hakes, Alben Peavy, Capt. Grant, Jess Damon, Ezra Thrope, Jake Spence, Judge Ray Cordelius)

Have Gun - Will Travel (TV) – 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963 (Clyde Broderick, soldier, Dallas Burchfield, Chee Yan)

Man in the Shadow – 1957 (Jim Shaney)

The Adventures of Jim Bowie (TV) – 1957-1958 (Justinian Tebbs)

The Gray Ghost (TV) – 1957 (Ebans)

Zorro (TV) – 1957 (San Fernando Innkeeper)

Jefferson Drum (TV) – 1958 (Polk Beauregard)

Sugarfoot (TV) – 1958 (Cole)

The Texan (TV) – 1958 (Arnold Leno)

U.S. Marshal (TV) – 1958 (Charles P. Cahill)

Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1958, 1959 (hotel clerk, James Hendricks, Craig, Link Damon)

Zane Grey Theater (TV) – 1958, 1959, 1961 (Yarbrough, Tom Baird, John Scott, Tom)

Day of the Outlaw – 1959 (Preston)

Maverick (TV) – 1959 (Carl)

Black Saddle (TV) – 1959 (Chet Mallet)

Johnny Ringo (TV) – 1959, 1960 (Prosecutor Bogan, Tom Ferris)

Rawhide (TV) – 1959, 1961, 1963 (salesman, Lt.Hill, Lt. Carter)

The Rifleman (TV) – 1959, 1960, 1961 (Fogarty, Marshal Truce, Joe Lovering)

Shotgun Slade (TV) – 1959 (Gunnar Yensen)

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color – Elfego Baca (TV) – 1959 (Deputy Sheriff Denbigh)

Wichita Town (TV) – 1959 (Al Watson)

Bat Masterson (TV) – 1960 (Dr. Harold Dunsmore, George Winston)

Lawman (TV) – 1960 (Reed Smith)

Stagecoach West (TV) – 1960 (Aeneas Longbridge)

Wagon Train (TV) – 1960 (Miles Van Vander, Eliott Drake)

Gunslinger (TV) - 1961 (Lt. Gilmore)

The Rebel (TV) – 1961 (Charles Ashbaugh)

Lonely Are the Brave – 1962 (Harry)

Bonanza (TV) – 1962 (George Norton)

Empire (TV) – 1962 (Sully Mason)

Stoney Burke (TV) – 1962 (Warden Harper)

Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1962 (Paul Grieg)

The Virginian (TV) – 1966 (Harry Foley)

Hour of the Gun – 1967 (Judge Herman Spicer)

Will Penny – 1967 (Dr. Fraker)

Pistols 'n' Petticoats (TV) – 1967 (Stanley Dill)

The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1967, 1968, 1969 (Silas Grigsby, Rufus Krause, Frank Harper)

The Guns of Will Sonnett (TV) – 1968 (lawyer)

Here Come the Brides (TV) – 1968, 1969 (Reverend, Shagrue)

Sam Whiskey – 1969 (Mr. Perkins)

Kung Fu (TV) – 1973 (Willis Roper)

Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1976, 1979 (Snell, Dean Russell Harmon)

Houston: The Legend of Texas (TV) – 1986 (narrator)

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RIP Elisa Mainardi

May 11, 2016, 6:59 am

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Italian actress Elisa Mainardi died in Rome on May 8^th. Born in Rome on September 29, 1930, Mainardi studied at the acting school of Peter Sharoff, and debuted on stage in 1956, in Ottavio Spadaro's “Corruzione a palazzo di giustizia”, alongside Salvo Randone, immediately receiving critical acclaim for her performance. Shortly thereafter she became the lead actress in “Il sorriso della Gioconda directed by Ernesto Grassi and in “La penna” directed by Lucio Chiavarelli, and in Luciano Salce's “Colombe di Anouilh”. Her stage works include main roles in works directed by Luchino Visconti, Giorgio De Lullo, Silverio Blasi and Alessandro Fersen. Mainardi was also active on television and in films, in which she worked several times with Federico Fellini. Her only Euro-western appearance was as Nancy in “The Relentless Four” (1965) starring Adam West.

MAINARDI, Elisa
Born: 9/29/1930, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Died: 5/8/2016, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Elisa Mainardi's western - actress:
The Relentless Four - 1965 (Nancy)

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RIP Leah Waggner

May 13, 2016, 10:44 am

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RIP Leah Waggner

Leah Waggner, wife of actor William Schalert died sometime in 2015, exact date unknown. She was born Rosemarie Dawn Waggner in 1927 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Glenn S. Waggner, manager of Harris Dental, a dental supplies company, and Rose E. Waggner. Following graduation from St. Gertrude's High School Leah entered Longwood State Teachers College, in Farmville, Virginia as a freshman in 1943 to study drama. In January 1944 she was pledged to a woman's sorority, Mu Omega. Leah moved with her family to California in 1948. She became a supporting and character actress. Among her eighteen film and television appearances she is known for The Twilight Zone (1960), Gunsmoke (1961), and two appearances each on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1962 and 1966) and The Patty Duke Show (1964 and 1965). Leah married William Joseph Schallert, former president of The Screen Actors Guild, on February 26, 1949 in Santa Barbara, California. They have four sons: William Joseph (born in 1949), Edwin G. (born in 1952), Mark M. (born in 1954), and Brendan C. Schallert (born in 1961).

WAGGNER, Leah (Rosemarie Diann Waggner)

Born: 1927, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Died: 2015, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Leah Waggner’s westerns – actress:

Tombstone Territory (TV) – 1958

Shotgun Slade (TV) – 1960 (Grace Timmons)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1961 (Millie Coe)

Incident on Phantom Hill - 1966

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RIP Madeleine Lebeau

May 14, 2016, 4:48 pm

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Madeleine Lebeau, Rick's Discarded Lover in 'Casablanca,' Dies at 92

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

5/14/2016

The French actress is teary-eyed and among those singing “La Marseillaise” in Rick's Cafe during a stirring, patriotic moment in the 1942 Warner Bros. classic.

Madeleine Lebeau, the luminous French actress who played Yvonne, the jilted lover of Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine who wells up during the patriotic singing of “La Marseillaise” in the immortal film Casablanca, has died. She was 92.

Lebeau, who later portrayed an actress named Madeleine in another classic, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963), died May 1 in Estepona, Spain after breaking her thigh bone, her stepson, documentary filmmaker and environmentalist Carlo Alberto Pinelli, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lebeau is widely believed to be the last surviving cast member from Casablanca. Not too long before making the film, she herself had escaped Nazi-occupied France with her then-husband, actor Marcel Dalio.

In the 1942 Warner Bros. drama, Yvonne and Rick had a one-night stand, and when she makes another pass at him while drowning her sorrows at his nightclub, he spurns her and has the bartender take her back to her apartment. Later, she returns to the nightclub arm in arm with a German soldier.

When a group of German soldiers begin belting out “Die Wacht am Rhein,” Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) leads Rick’s house band in response with a stirring rendition of “La Marseillaise.” All the patriots in the club, including Yvonne, join in to sing the French national anthem, and they drown out the Germans in a memorable "duel."

Lebeau is teary-eyed in two full-screen close-ups and yells “Viva la France!” in her final, passionate line. Like her, many of the actors in the memorable scene were refugees from Europe, and they drew on real emotions.

Her husband Dalio played the croupier Emil in Casablanca after appearing in such films as Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game.

After Lebeau and Dalio eventually made their way to Hollywood, she scored a role in Paramount's Hold Back the Dawn (1941), starring Frenchman Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland, then appeared with Errol Flynn in the 1942 boxing biopic Gentleman Jim.

Following Casablanca and her divorce from Dalio, Lebeau had a prominent role in another film about the French resistance, Paris After Dark (1943), then appeared in Music for Millions (1944).

She returned to Europe after the war and worked in such films as The Royalists (1947), Cage of Gold (1950), Sins of Madeleine (1951) and La Parisienne (1957), opposite Boyer and Brigitte Bardot.

Lebeau also was married to Tullio Pinelli, a screenwriter who earned Oscar nominations for 8 1/2 and three others Fellini films: I vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954) and La Dolce Vita (1960). They were married from 1988 until his death in March 2009 at age 100.

LEBEAU, Madeleine (Marie Madeleine Berthe Lebeau)

Born: 6/10/1923, Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Died: 5/1/2016, Estepona, Costa del Sol, Spain

Madeline Lebeau’s western – actress:

Gunmen of the Rio Grande - 1964 (Jennie Lee)

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RIP Nella Gambini

May 15, 2016, 8:45 am

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Tadzius C. Gambini

May 8, 2016

She would prefer absolute silence, like the one that hung over her life for a long time now. But I cannot turn a blind eye. My Star has left us. She died peacefully in her sleep on the evening of May 1^st, a week ago. For discretion and confidentiality that have always distinguished her, she wanted the news of her death to only be made public after the fact. Now, every word is superfluous. What I feel is indescribable. I cannot even imagine a life without her. It was still beautiful, despite remaining faithful to the will that she no longer wished to appear. She left with her beautiful hair, long and thick almost like 40 years ago, at exactly 30 years after the death of her sweetheart, a pain that had removed her ability to be happy. She said: "I was happy for 20 years, then it was over. I should be afraid of the idea of the concept, the feeling. But no, it was great and if you go back risbatterei head other ten, a hundred, a thousand times. I wish everyone to be as happy as I did it. Because there is nothing more beautiful than to have someone who, takes you by the hand and over your life gives you the joy of becoming yourself. "A Roman and Cuban, conceived in the capital but born by chance in Ferrara on January 6, 1953, while her mother (Cuban) and father (strongman-acrobat acrobat-juggler, stuntman) roamed up and down the boot trying to make ends meet. To accompany her last trip, she wears the black business dress suit she wore 13 years ago on the occasion of her farewell to Cinecittà, earrings white pearl, a precious scarf wrapped around her neck, received as a gift from Donna Paola Bourbons, two Kinder chocolate bars held tight in her hands, the songs "Se non avessi più te" and "Grandma's dance" and the "Requiem" of Trastevere (the film), the film to which she was tied up for 45 years. Her ashes, which are now harbored in the house of her brother, will soon be scattered together with those of her father, on the Appia Antica on a beautiful sunny day.

To her, from now on, I will devote my life ~ Tadzius C. Gambini

GAMBINI, Nella C.

Born: 1/6/1953, Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Died: 5/1/2016, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Nella Gambini’s westerns – actress, stunt woman, stunt coordinator, master of arms, voice actress.

Up the MacGregors – 1966 [also stunts]

Don’t Sing Shoot (TV) – 1967 [stunts]

7 Pistols for a Massacre – 1967 [stunts]

On the Third Day Arrived the Crow – 1972 [Italian voice of Fiorella Mannoia]

Six Bounty Killers for a Massacre – 1972 [Italian voice of Fiorella Mannoia]

When the Devil Grips a Colt – 1972 [Italian voice of Fiorella Mannoia]

Young Guns Go West – 1975 [stunt coordinator, master of arms]

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RIP Michael Roberds

May 17, 2016, 6:34 am

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Michael Roberds, who played Uncle Fester in "The New Addams Family", dead at 52

VanCityBuzz

May 16, 2016

Local actor Michael Roberds, most well known in his role as Uncle Fester in The New Addams Family TV show, has died at the age of 52.

“It is with incredible sadness that I announce the passing my client and friend, Michael Roberds,” Debbie Mahood, Talent Manager at Lucas Talent Inc. wrote in a Facebook post. “Michael loved to entertain his neighbors by reading them jokes at parties… Michael was a gentle soul and will be missed by all he touched.”

The Langley native began performing in a school play, “Christmas on Sesame Street, at the age of five and went on to appear in over 80 shows and movies throughout his career, according to IMDB. He appeared in 65 episodes of The New Addams Family, which aired in 1998-99.

Friends of Roberds took to social media to express their sadness, including local comedian Simon King:

“He was warm, funny and extremely kind. I always thought he would have made a great stand up if he’d have wanted, his comedy mind was excellent and to be admired… Mike will be sorely missed, not just by his friends and family but by everyone who will feel the loss of what he had yet to produce… Mike Roberds was a true original, a wonderful person and a shining light that helped guide me to the comedy shores I now call home. Goodbye Mike, I’m so very glad to have known you and honoured to have shared a stage with you.”

ROBERDS, Michael

Born: 1/18/1964, Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Died: 5/16/2016, Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Michael Roberds’ westerns – actor:

Dead Man’s Gun (TV) – 1998 (Matthew Hammond)

Call of the Wild (TV) – 2000 (crewman)

Nothing Too Grand for a Cowboy (TV) – 2000 (Ned Bartley)

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RIP Lino Toffolo

May 18, 2016, 8:18 am

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Venetian actor Lino Toffolo dead

Artist worked with director Mario Monicelli, among others

ANSA

May 18, 2016

Venice, May 18 - Lino Toffolo, a Venetian actor, singer-songwriter and cabaret performer, died Wednesday at the age of 82. Toffolo made his debut in the 1960s at Milan's "Derby" alongside performers such as Enzo Jannacci. He worked in film with director Mario Monicelli and produced theme songs for television shows including "Johnny Bassotto".

Toffolo was an ardent follower of society and current affairs, and as recently as May 9 he spoke out on his Facebook page against the trend among young people of taking selfies on train tracks.

On Wednesday Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro paid tribute to Toffolo on Twitter. "Ciao #LinoToffolo, authentic interpreter of Venetian sentiment. The city embraces you and thanks you," Brugnaro tweeted.

Davide Zoggia, a Venetian MP for the Democratic Party (PD), said that in Toffolo's death, Venice "loses a cultural and show business giant".

"Lino Toffolo, in addition to having been an extraordinary actor, and his career shows it, working side-by-side with people the caliber of (Marcello) Mastroianni and (Vittorio) Gassman, was witness to a way of being Venetian that doesn't exist anymore," Zoggia said.

TOFFOLO, Lino

Born: 12/30/1934, Murano, Venice, Veneto, Italy

Died: 5/18/2016, Murano, Venice, Veneto, Italy

Lino Toffolo’s western – actor:

In the Name of the Father - 1969 (Paul

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RIP Alan Young

May 22, 2016, 10:56 pm

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Alan Young, ‘Mister Ed’ Star, Dies at 96

Variety

By Carmel Dagan

May

Alan Young, who gamely played straight man to a talking horse for five years in classic sitcom “Mr. Ed,” died Thursday at the Motion Picture and Television Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 96.

On the series, which ran from 1961-66 on CBS, Young played architect Wilbur Post, who was married to Carol (played by Connie Hines, who died in 2009) and kept a horse, Mr. Ed, in their suburban stable. Mr. Ed, voiced by Allan “Rocky” Lane, would speak only to Wilbur, but given Mr. Ed’s rather outlandish personality and the superbly mild effect of Young’s Wilbur, just who owned whom could occasionally be a matter of debate.

Young also voiced Scrooge McDuck and numerous other animated characters, as well as guesting on dozens of TV shows.

In 2005 “Mr. Ed” won a TV Land Award for most heart-warming pet-owner interaction. Young also directed four episodes of “Mr. Ed.” The show was one of the first to start in syndication, achieve success, then get picked up by a network.

While he will be most remembered for “Mr. Ed,” Young had a long and busy acting career.

Young was second billed — behind Rod Taylor but ahead of Yvette Mimieux — in the 1961 hit film “The Time Machine,” the adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel in which Young played the loyal friend to Taylor’s George, who builds the machine and time travels.

Young was clearly fascinated by the Wells work: He appeared in a small role in the 2002 “Time Machine” remake starring Guy Pearce and directed by Simon Wells, a direct descendant of H.G., and in the 2010s, when he was in his early 90s, Young was recording the narration of an animated film, to be released in April 2015 and called “The Time Machine Alan Young.”

He took a long break from showbiz after “Mr. Ed” — 10 years, during which he drove across America — then returned to TV, guesting on the brief series “Gibbsville,” appearing in feature “The Cat from Outer Space” and transitioning into a career that primarily consisted of doing voice work for television animation series. His specialty was a Scottish accent, and eventually he became the fourth voice performer to be officially handed the task of voicing Scrooge McDuck since Dallas McKennon did it in the 1960s. He first voiced Scrooge McDuck in a 1983 short called “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” and later did so on the “DuckTales,” “Mickey Mouse Works” and “Raw Toonage” series, 1990 feature “DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp” as well as TV movie “Super DuckTales.”

Young had lent his voice to Disney even before starting the animation work, sharing a 1977 Emmy nomination in the best recording for children category for “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.”

Other animated efforts to which he lent his voice included feature “The Great Mouse Detective” as well as the series “Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo,” “Battle of the Planets,” “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “The Dukes,” “The Smurfs,” (series), “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (series) and animated TV movie “A Flintstone Family Christmas.”

He also made guest appearances on “The Love Boat,” guested on the series “Down to Earth,” made appearances in various roles on “ABC Weekend Specials,” made the obligatory stop on “Murder, She Wrote” and appeared on “St. Elsewhere” in 1987. He was a series regular in “Coming of Age,” a sitcom about people living in a retirement community in Arizona; in the show he was paired with the British actress Glynis Johns. He guested on “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “Coach”; he appeared in the “Hart to Hart” telepic “Home Is Where the Hart Is” and the feature “Beverly Hills Cop III” and guested on “Party of Five.”

Young was 74 at this point and not remotely slowing down — he would work for, more or less, another 20 years. He also voiced Haggis McHaggis on “The Ren & Stimpy Show.”

Meanwhile, in the live-action world, he made appearances on the “Wayan Bros.” series, “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and “The Tony Danza Show.” He appeared on an episode of “ER” in 2000 in which he played a nursing-home resident who flashes back to a traumatic event during the Korean War and causes some mayhem in the ER. He guested on “FreakyLinks,” returned to the role of Wilbur Post for an episode of “God, the Devil and Bob,” and starred in a 2004 telepic called “Em & Me,” in which he played a senior, thought senile by his family, who takes off on a road trip.

Young did videogame voice work as well starting with “The Curse of Monkey Island” in 1997. Between 2008 and 2013, he voiced Scrooge McDuck in four Disney videogames: “Disney TH!NK Fast,” “Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep,” “Disney Magical World” and “DuckTales: Remastered.”

Alan Young was born Angus Young in North Shields, Tyne-and-Wear, England, but the family moved to Scotland and then to Canada.

He was performing on the radio by age 13; by 17 he had his own radio show on Canada’s CBC. The show, which also aired in the U.S., led to an invitation to perform on American radio, where he had his “Alan Young Radio Show” from 1944-49. After his show was canceled (and radio was fading in general), Young assembled a comedy act and toured the U.S.

Meanwhile, the young actor made his screen debut with a supporting role in the 1946 film “Margie,” followed by “Chicken Every Sunday” and Mr. Belvedere Goes to College.”

Moving to TV, he wrote a pilot for CBS in 1950, resulting in live variety revue “The Alan Young Show” that earned him a best actor Emmy in 1951. He was also nominated for outstanding personality.

He did not, however, give up on feature films. He starred with Dinah Shore in the musical “Aaron Slick From Punkin Crick,” and he played Androcles in “Androcles and the Lion,” a film that also starred Jean Simmons, Victor Mature and Elsa Lanchester, among others. He also had a prominent role in sequel “Gentlemen Prefer Brunettes,” starring Jane Russell. A few years later, he was second-billed in George Pal’s fantasy film “tom thumb,” starring Russ Tamblyn.

With Bill Burt, Young wrote the autobiography “Mr. Ed and Me,” which was published in 1995.

Young’s first marriage to Mary Anne Grimes in the 1940s ended in divorce. Young married Virginia McCurdy in 1948 but after a period of separation they divorced in 1995. He was married to Mary Chipman from 1996 to 1997.

He is survived by four children.

Contributions may be made to the Motion Picture & Television Fund and to Y.E.S. The Arc, a residential program for persons with special needs.

YOUNG, Alan (Angus Young)

Born: 11/19/1919, North Shields, Tyne-and-Wear, England, U.K.

Died: 5/19/2016, Woodland Hills, California, U.S.A.

Alan Young’s westerns – actor:

Death Valley Days (TV) – 1962 (John Stetson)

Baker’s Hawk – 1976 (Paul Carson)

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RIP Richard C. Bennett

May 22, 2016, 10:58 pm

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RIP Richard Charles Bennett

San Luis Obispo Tribune

April 28, 2016

Richard Charles Bennett 1923 - 2016 Richard was first born of Charles Bennett and Meredith Taberner in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is survived by his wife, Gayne Pinto-Bennett of San Luis Obispo and his six children: Maura (Jim) Packwood of Austin, Texas; Michael (Sherry) of Newberry Park, Calif.; Mark of Fresno, Calif.; Peggy (Rick) Gregory and Eileen of Seattle, Wash., and Charlie (Wendy) of North Hills, Calif., as well as 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at the Old Mission on Saturday, April 30, at 3:00pm.

BENNETT, Richard C (Richard Charles Bennett)

Born: 4/23/1923, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Died: 4/22/2016, San Louis Obispo, California, U.S.A.

Richard Charles Bennett’s westerns – assistant director:

Hang ‘Em High – 1968

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys - 1969

The Virginian (TV) – 1969

The Young Country (TV) – 1970

Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster? - 1971

Alias Smith and Jones (TV) – 1971-1973

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RIP Leonorilda Ochoa

May 22, 2016, 10:59 pm

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Leonorilda Ochoa Dead At 76: Mexican Actress Dies After Suffering From Alzheimer's Disease

Latin Times

By Armando Tinoco

May 22, 2016

Leonorilda Ochoa has died at the age of 76. The actress and comedian had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for 8 years and passed away the morning hours of Sunday, May 22.

"She died at 4:25am," her surviving son Sergio Ochoa said on "Formula Dominical" tv show. "She was calm, a beautiful face, we have an angel in heave. She was at peace and accompanied by all the people that loved her. I want to thank my mother for everything that she was to us."

Sergio also mentioned that there would not be a public viewing and the funeral services would be private.

Leonorilda Ochoa was known for participating in comedy shows and movies. Her latest projects were in telenovela projects like "Código Postal" (2006) and "Rubí" (2004). She also took part in "Así Son Ellas" (2002), "Vivo Por Elena" (1998) and "Alcanzar Una Estrella" (1990).

Leonorilda was especially known for her comedic acts like La Pecas character on "Los Beverly De Peralvillo" (1968).

One of her first professional jobs was as the showgirl for the Quinteto de los Hermanos Salinas. After that she appeared in the television shows like "Variedades Del Mediodía" (1954), alongside Manuel "El Loco" Valdés, and "Cómicos y Canciones" (1956), starring Viruta and Capulina.

Her breakout role in television came in the sitcom "Chucherías" (1962), which also starred Chucho Salinas, Héctor Lechuga, and Alejandro Suárez.

OCHOA, Leonorlida

Born: 10/30/1939, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Died: 5/22/2016, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Leonorlida, Ochoa’s western – actress:

Capulina ‘Speedy’ Gonzalez: ‘El Rapido – 1970 (Rosita Smith)

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RIP Velimir Bata Živojinović

May 23, 2016, 7:36 am

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VREME

5/23/2016

Bata Živojinović (1933-2016)

Played in more than 340 movies and TV series

Actor Velimir Bata Zivojinovic, died May 22 at 22:45 hours in the hospital Sveti Sava in Belgrade, at which he was submitted in late April when his state of health suddenly deteriorated he had been impaired after a stroke four years ago.

Bata Zivojinovic was born in Koraćica under Kosmaj 5 June 1933 as an intern he worked as a stagehand and helper at the Academic Theatre "Branko Krsmanovic" in Belgrade, then attended secondary acting school in Nis and Novi Sad and Theatre Academy in Belgrade, to which he was admitted after his third attempt.

In Belgrade Drama Theatre has played for several years. Film debut in "Songs from Kumbara" (1955, directed by Rados Novakovic), then in the film by Veljko Bulajic "Train without a schedule in" (1957), and during the sixties in such films as "Kozara" Veljko Bulajic (for which he was awarded u Puli), "Battle of Britain", then "High voltage" (1981), "Great transportation" (1983), "Promised Land" (1986). more particularly successfully cooperates with Stole Jankovic ( "Radopolje", 1963 .; "MP", 1964; "Cherry on Tasmajdan", 1968; "Partisans", 1974; "Tren", 1978; the enemy, Zika Pavlovic 1967 "Breza" Anta Baba, "in the Jaws of life '' Rajko Grlic, the anthological movies "Maestro and Margarita", "Happy Gypsies", "Three" ...

Certainly one of his most famous films is “Valter defends Sarajevo”, which achieved great success in China. His last role was in the film "Ice" in 2012.

Bata Zivojinovic’s more important roles were in films directed by the most famous directors of which he was a contemporary of R. Novakovića (Song, 1961; desertions. 1968), Ž. Pavlovic (Back, 1966; Chase, 1977), Z. Velimirovića (Death and the Dervish, 1974; Tops Zelengore, 1976; Dorotej, 1981), V.Mimice (Revolt 1573, 1975), G. Paskaljevic (Beach Guard in winter, 1976 .; Dog who loved trains, 1977), Ž. Nikolic (Beštije, 1977, Miracle unseen, 1984), B. Draskovic (Red Heat, 1979; Life is Beautiful, 1985), L. Zafranović (Pad Italy, 1981) and others.

He played in the popular TV series RTS from "Return of the Written Off", "The Story of the Workshop", "Theatre in the House,""Citizen Sela Luga", "Grey Home", "The End of Obrenovic Dynasty" in the television series "Radovan the Third "u" Better life, "" Happy People","Family Treasure "," My Relatives From the Country."

Bata Zivojinovic had twice received the Golden Arena for Best Actor at the Festival in Pula - for the films "Kozara" (1962) and "Three" (1965). For the film "Tren" he received an award at the International Festival in Moscow in October 1978. Award of Belgrade he received in 1972. He received the July 7th Award of SR Serbia in 1981, and several times at the festival in Nis. In August 1993 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award "Slavica" for its role in the Yugoslav film industry and recognition of the Yugoslav Film Archive - Gold Seal.

He was one of the founders, and at one time president of the Screen Actors Guild, one of the founders of the Film festival in Sopot.

He was involved in politics. Several times he was elected a deputy in the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the Serbian Socialist pariah, and was the party's candidate in the presidential election 2002.

Živojinović, Velimir Bata

Born: 6/5/1933, Koracica, Serbia, Yugoslavia

Died: 5/22/2016, Belgrade, Serbia

Velimir Bata Živojinović’s western – actor:

Flaming Frontier - 1965 (Jim Potter)

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RIP Burt Kwouk

May 24, 2016, 8:11 am

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Burt Kwouk, Pink Panther star, dies aged 85

BBC

May 24, 2016

Burt Kwouk, who was best known for playing Inspector Clouseau's manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films, has died aged 85.

He appeared in seven Pink Panther films opposite Peter Sellers as Clouseau's servant who regularly attacked his employer to keep him alert.

He also starred in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 2002 to 2010.

Born in Manchester but raised in Shanghai, the actor was awarded an OBE in the 2011 New Year Honour List.

A statement issued by his agent said: "Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away. The family will be having a private funeral but there will be a memorial at a later date."

On the big screen Kwouk also appeared in three James Bond films including Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.

Kwouk had a long TV career, appearing in numerous TV shows including The Avengers and Doctor Who. He also played Major Yamauchi in the 1980s wartime television drama Tenko.

He joined long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine as electrician Entwistle - a part that was written with him in mind.

The actor appeared in Harry Hill's comedy series in the 1990s and also gained a cult following when he presented Channel 4's interactive gambling show Banzai from 2001-2004.

Kwouk started acting when he returned to England in 1954 and his big break came 10 years later when director Blake Edwards offered him the part of Cato Fong, opposite Peter Sellers's Inspector Clouseau.

His double act with Sellers was hugely popular with fans and he continued in the role of Cato after Sellers died in 1980, appearing opposite Roger Moore and Roberto Benigni when they took on the role of the bumbling French detective.

Kwouk said he never expected the part to continue for such a long time, starring in his first Pink Panther film in 1974 and the last in 1992.

"They were always a lot of fun because after a while I got to know Cato quite well and I liked Cato because he never argued with me and he never borrowed money from me. I liked playing Cato quite a lot," he told the BBC in 2011.

Talking about his career after being awarded an OBE for services to drama, the actor said working on the James Bond movies was a special experience.

"Bond movies are always great fun because everything about them is big, expansive, huge - the sets are big, the amounts of money that is spent is huge as well, and the whole thing has a big atmosphere about it. And actors like doing that kind of thing."

But if he had to pick a favourite role, the star said it would be the first time he "had a featured role in a good movie".

"You always remember your first of anything - your first house, your first car, your first child, your first woman - you always remember those things and this was a picture made in 1958.

"It was The Inn of the Sixth Happiness which starred a great lady called Ingrid Bergman, I remember that very fondly."

KWOUK, Burt (Herbert W. Kwouk)

Born: 7/18/1930, Manchester, England, U.K.

Died: 5/24/2016

Burt Kwouk’s western – actor:

Queen of Swords (TV) – 2001 (Master Kiyomosa)

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RIP Federico de Zigno

May 24, 2016, 1:07 pm

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Italian film critic and author Federico Alberto de Zigno died May 19, 2016 in Firenze, Italy. He was 63. Born August 12, 1952 in Firenze, Italy. He was a specialist of genre films, and hds been a member of the editorial board of the journal Amarcord. He was the author of the book Cittadini X: serial killer dalla realtà allo schermo (1998) and collaborated on numerous publications of the publishing company Glittering Images, including the magazine Diva and volumes The Cosmical horror of HP Lovecraft (1991), Marquis De Sade antologie illustree (1993). As a passionate student of almeriense film phenomenon during the years 1960-70, he had written, with Antonio Bruschini, Western All'Italiana: the Wild, the Sadist and the Outsiders (2001) and Western All'Italiana 100 More Must-See Movies ( 2006). Similarly he had authored texts for vampire books like Il redivivo (1993), Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo di Sergio Leone (2000), Il cinema di Mel Gibson (2004), etc. He had collaborated on magazines like Night Cinema and Spanish Nosferatu and Quatermass.

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RIP Buck Kartalian

May 24, 2016, 1:45 pm

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Buck Kartalian, the Keeper of the Cages in Original 'Planet of the Apes,' Dies at 93

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

May 24, 2016

The veteran character actor, a former body builder, also portrayed the inmate Dynamite in Paul Newman's 'Cool Hand Luke.'

Buck Kartalian, the burly character actor who played the cigar-smoking gorilla Julius, the Keeper of the Cages, in the original Planet of the Apes, died Tuesday. He was 93.

Kartalian died of natural causes at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Calif., his son, Jason Kartalian, said.

Kartalian also was known for his role as Dynamite, the "champion eater" and one of Paul Newman's fellow inmates, in Cool Hand Luke (1967), and he played a shopkeeper in Clint Eastwood's The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). His career lasted more than six decades.

In Planet of the Apes (1968), Kartalian is in charge of security at the Research Complex for studying humans. He enjoys tormenting George Taylor (Charlton Heston) with a water hose before the captured astronaut escapes his jail cell. His character's cigar was his idea, and he has a memorable line in the movie: "You know what they say: 'Human see, human do.'"

Kartalian later played another gorilla named Frank in the 1972 sequel Conquest of the Planet of the Apes.

The 5-foot-3 Kartalian, a professional wrestler and body builder who was born in Detroit, portrayed Sampson in a 1951 production of Romeo and Juliet on Broadway (Olivia de Havilland starred as Juliet). He toured in a national production of Mister Roberts and then had a small role as a sailor in the 1955 Henry Fonda film version.

He came to Los Angeles in the 1960s.

Kartalian also appeared in such films as Sail a Crooked Ship (1961), Myra Breckinridge (1970), The Man With Bogart's Face (1980), The Rock (1996), My Favorite Martian (1999) and Tomcats (2001).

His TV résumé included the series Naked City, The Untouchables, Get Smart, McHale's Navy, Batman (as one of Catwoman's henchmen in the 1966 "Hot Off the Griddle" episode), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Just Shoot Me! and How I Met Your Mother.

He had a role in the 1959 Broadway play Golden Fleecing, directed by Abe Burrows.

Kartalian also is survived by children Julie and Aram.

KARTALIAN, Buck

Born: 8/13/1922, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

Died: 5/24/2016, Mission Hills, California, U.S.A.

Buck Kartlian’s westerns – actor:

Stay Away Joe – 1968 (Bull Shortgun)

The Wild Wild West – 1968 (Lieutenant Bengston)

Here Come the Brides (TV) – 1968-1969 (Sam)

Mark of the Gun – 1969 (Bert)

Nichols (TV) – 1971-1972 (Samuel)

The Outlaw Josey Wales – 1976 (shopkeeper)

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RIP Beth Howland

May 24, 2016, 10:55 pm

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Beth Howland, Accident-Prone Waitress From the Sitcom ‘Alice,’ Dies at 74

The New York Times

By William Grimes

May 24, 2016

Beth Howland, who made high anxiety an art form as the ditsy, accident-prone waitress Vera Louise Gorman on the 1970s and ’80s sitcom “Alice,” died on Dec. 31, 2015, in Santa Monica, Calif., her husband said on Tuesday. He had refrained from announcing her death earlier in keeping with her wishes. She was 74.

The cause was lung cancer, her husband, the actor Charles Kimbrough, said, adding that she had not wanted a funeral or a memorial service.

“It was the Boston side of her personality coming out,” Mr. Kimbrough said. “She didn’t want to make a fuss.”

Ms. Howland was a modestly successful television actress, with a handful of Broadway credits on her résumé, when Alan Shayne, the president of Warner Bros. Television, began casting roles for “Alice.” The CBS series, based on the 1974 Martin Scorsese film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” required three waitresses for Mel’s Diner, the locus of the action, one of them the high-strung Vera, played in the film by Valerie Curtin.

Mr. Shayne had seen Ms. Howland on Broadway in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Company,” where, as a nervous prospective bride named Amy, she sang a lightning-fast patter song, “Getting Married Today.”

“Vera was written as a taut wire, ready to go to pieces at any minute,” he wrote in “Double Life: A Love Story From Broadway to Hollywood” (2011), a memoir written with Norman Sunshine. He recalled Ms. Howland, in the musical, “going to pieces in front of the audience’s eyes.”

Ms. Howland won the role, and for nine seasons, from 1976 to 1985, she kept television audiences amused with her wide-eyed, jumpy performances. Asked to describe her character, she told Knight Newspapers in 1979: “Insecure and vulnerable. Probably works the hardest of anybody in the diner. Very gullible, very innocent.”

Elizabeth Howland was born on May 28, 1941, in Boston. She studied dance at the Hazel Boone Studio and, after graduating from high school at 16, headed to New York, where she landed a replacement role as Lady Beth in “Once Upon a Mattress” and a role as a dancer in “Bye Bye Birdie.” She also appeared, alongside Valerie Harper and Donna Douglas, the future Elly May Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” as a dancer in the 1959 film “Li’l Abner.”

At 19 she married Michael J. Pollard, one of the lead actors in “Bye Bye Birdie.” The marriage ended in divorce. In addition to her husband, who played the anchorman Jim Dial on the television series “Murphy Brown,” she is survived by a daughter from her first marriage, Holly Howland.

Small parts on Broadway and in the Off Broadway hit “Your Own Thing,” a musical version of “Twelfth Night,” led to her breakthrough role in “Company” and her tour-de-force rendition of “Getting Married Today.”

“It was a perfect song for me,” she told The Los Angeles Times in 2004. “I’m not a singer, and it has maybe four notes.”

She performed it again when most of the original cast reassembled in 1993 for concert performances at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, Calif., and the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center.

After being cast as the wife of a character played by Bert Convy on an episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” she moved to Los Angeles to work in television. She appeared on “Love, American Style,” “Cannon,” “The Rookies” and other shows before taking the role of Vera on “Alice.”

Unlike many actors, Ms. Howland had never worked as a waitress. “But I just kept sitting around coffee shops and watching how it’s done, and now I can carry four dinners,” she told Knight Newspapers.

One of Vera’s most memorable moments on the show occurred a scant few seconds after the beginning of the first episode. A customer’s cheery “Hi, Vera,” caused her to throw a boxful of drinking straws into the air. The freak-out became part of the show’s opening credit sequence.

For nine years, Vera remained overwrought, but changes did occur. Toward the end of the series, she married a police officer, Elliot Novak, played by Charles Levin. In the final episode, she announced that she was pregnant.

Ms. Howland acted sporadically after “Alice” went off the air. She had small guest roles on “Eight Is Enough,” “Little House on the Prairie,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” and “The Tick.”

She and the actress Jennifer Warren were the executive producers of the documentary “You Don’t Have to Die,” about a 6-year-old boy’s successful battle against cancer. It won an Academy Award in 1989 for best short-subject documentary.

HOWLAND, Beth (Elizabeth Howland)

Born: 5/28/1941, Boston Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Died: 12/31/2015, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

Beth Howland’s western – actress:

Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1976 (clerk)

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RIP Nancy Dow

May 25, 2016, 6:11 pm

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RIP Nancy Dow

Daily Mail

By Regina F. Graham

May 25, 2016

Actress Jennifer Aniston's estranged mother, Nancy Dow, passed away sometime on Wednesday, reports say.

The Friends star visited her 79-year-old mother for the first time in nearly five years on May 12, according to In Touch Weekly.

'Jen must have had a wake-up call and wanted to see her mother one last time before she passes,' an insider told the magazine.

Dow reportedly had suffered a series of strokes and lost the ability to speak and walk prior to her death, the magazine reported.

According to Radar Online, Dow was rushed from her apartment unit in Toluca Lake, California just after midnight on Sunday by four paramedics.

A neighbor who witnessed the emergency situation said that she 'was apparently close to death.'

'Her hands were curled up to her face and her skin was grey,' another source told Radar Online.

'She was wheeled out then very late at night at 1.30am. On Monday morning, all the lights were on in the apartment and the door was wide open.'

DOW, Nancy E.

Born: 7/22/1936, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 5/25/2016, Toluca Lake, California, U.S.A.

Nanvy E. Dow’s western – actress:

The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1967 (Tersa)

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RIP Angela Paton

May 27, 2016, 6:45 am

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'Groundhog Day' Actress Angela Paton Dies at 86

The Hollywood Reporter

By The Associated Press

May 26, 2016

Paton most recently appeared in a 2012 run of 'Harvey' on Broadway.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angela Paton, an actress best known for appearing with Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, has died. She was 86.

Her nephew George Woolf says Paton died Thursday in Oakland, California, where she had been in hospice care after a recent heart attack.

Paton played Mrs. Lancaster, the kindly, elderly, small-town innkeeper who played host to Murray on his never-ending day in 1993's Groundhog Day.

She had 91 film and television credits, nearly all of them after she was in her late 50s.

Before that she had a long stage career based mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and founded a theater in Berkeley. She most recently appeared in a 2012 run of Harvey on Broadway.

Her movie credits also include 2003's American Wedding and the 1997 Lolita.

PATON, Angela

Born: 1/11/1930, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 5/26/2016, Oakland, California, U.S.A.

Angela Paton’s western – actress:

The Last of His Tribe (TV) – 1992 (Mrs. Gustafson)

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RIP Rosanna Huffman

May 27, 2016, 4:25 pm

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RIP Rosanna Huffman

Los Angeles Times

May 27, 2016

August 12, 1938 - May 20, 2016 Rosanna Levinson, nee Huffman, passed away on May 20, 2016 at her home in Santa Monica, CA. After a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, she decided not to seek treatment but instead to spend her final days at home with the family she loved, her cat Happy, and Turner Classic Movies. Even through her illness Rosanna kept her wicked sense of humor.

Rosanna was born in 1938 in Timblane, a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania, to Doras and Christine Huffman, followed later by her beloved brother Joe. Despite not knowing the rules of any sport, Rosanna was her high school's head cheerleader and Homecoming Queen. She put herself through two years of teaching college before moving to New York with the dream of singing on Broadway. She promptly did, landing the lead role in "Half a Sixpence."

She met television writer Richard Levinson at a party and after multiple proposals, she finally said yes. The two were married, moved to Los Angeles, and had one daughter, Chrissy. Rosanna continued to act in Los Angeles, both on stage and screen. She played the lead role in the critically acclaimed musical "Jane Heights" and worked as a voiceover artist for nearly 30 years in both film and television.

After losing her adored husband Richard to a heart attack when she was only 47, Rosanna raised their daughter with joy, love, and endless support. No one had more fun than she did, and the friends who filled her life were equally joyful and cherished. Before she died, she made clear that she would desperately miss seeing her grandchildren, Leo and Margot, grow into adults; she would miss her nightly calls with her daughter; she would miss Christmas dinner, but she also made clear that it was her time, and that she was ready to go.

Her service will be private, but if you wish to make a donation in her name, she was a big supporter of The Humane Society. The sun will shine a little less bright without her, but Rosanna would rather have you sing than cry. So hum a little tune for her.

HUFFMAN, Rosanna

Born: August 12, 1938, Timblane, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Died: May 20, 2016 Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

Rosanna Huffman’s western – actress:

The Big Valley (TV) – 1967 (Martha Dunn)

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RIP Sieghardt Rupp

May 30, 2016, 5:19 pm

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Actor Sieghardt Rupp is dead

It has only now become known that the film, TV and theater star Sieghardt Rupp died in July 2015 aged 84 years. There had been long been rumors of his death and the German film archive confirmed it only now.

By the late-1990s, the actor Sieghardt Rupp, known for his appearances in "crime films", had completely withdrawn from the theater and film business. Most recently, he lived a very secluded life, even his death had not been revealed, according to "courier" at his request. During the preparations of the retrospective on the occasion of his 85th birthday that the film archive had now learned that the actor is no longer alive.

In fact, the actor died on July 20, 2015, at 84 years in Vienna, as well as the Vienna newspaper "Falter" reported the previous week. Sieghardt Rupp was born on June 14, 1931 in Bregenz. He studies at the University of World Trade in Vienna (today a business university), the son of a school principal he soon and moved to the Max Reinhardt Seminar.

Appeared in "A Fistful of Dollars"

After engagements at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, the Landestheater Linz and at the Vienna Volkstheater he committed to the Josefstadt, guesting in the summer months at various outdoor stages (Bad Hersfeld, Wunsiedel, Melk, Stockerau, Perchtoldsdorf).

One of his first film roles he played in 1959 in the Showgirl thriller "Girl for the Mambo Bar" under director Wolfgang Glück ("Student Gerber", "'38 - Vienna Before the Fall"). In the 1960s they build Rupp under the name Tommy Rupp in home movies such "The Ranger Christl" for the heartthrob, lies in the stereotypes. With the movie "Among Vultures" he appeared 1964 as the western genre in which he was also in "A Fistful of Dollars" as the villain Esteban Rojo under the direction of Sergio Leone and became internationally known.

Success as the customs investigator Kressin in "Tatort"

He also appeared in comedies (such as "The Last Temptation" with Louis de Funes, 1966), war movies ("Steiner - the Iron Cross" with Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger, 1977) Success and literary adaptations such as "Lulu" ( 1962) along with Hildegard Knef and Mario Adorf. He ruled as the villain. Definitively a star in the German-speaking countries, he finally gained stardom in the 1970s for his role as customs investigator Kressin in "Tatort".

After he exited from the "crime scene" Rupp again increased his work load on the stage and taught from 1986 also at the Reinhardt Seminar as a specialist in "role design". For his portrayal of conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler at the theater in the Josefstadt 1997 he was awarded the Kainz Medal. The Film Archive honors the film, TV and theater star now from June 1 to 28 with a retrospective.

RUPP, Sieghardt

Born: 6/14/1931, Bregernz, Vorarlberg, Austria

Died: 7/20/2015, Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Sieghardt Rupp’s westerns – actor:

The Last Ride to Santa Cruz - 1963 (Fernando)

Fistful of Dollars - 1964 (Esteban Rojo) [as S. Rupp]

Frontier Hellcat - 1964 (Preston)

The Man Called Gringo - 1965 (Reno)

Who Killed Johnny R.? – 1965 (Captain Jason Conroy)

Blood at Sundown – 1966 (Ralph)

Tales of the Wild West (TV) – 1969

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RIP Andrew Gosling

May 31, 2016, 12:56 pm

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Andrew Gosling obituary

The Guardian

By Ian Keill

May 31, 2016

Director and producer involved in many successful television ventures, including The End of the Pier Show and Late Night Line-Up

Andrew Gosling, who has died aged 71, was a television pioneer. In 1974, he was one of the first to use blue screen, a by-product of colour television, while he was directing (and I was producing) the musical comedy series The End of the Pier Show for BBC2.

The show featured John Wells, John Fortune, Madeline Smith and the composer and conductor Carl Davis, with three new songs and a couple of guests each week. Wells once described it as “a programme for dirty-minded insomniacs”. Andrew had heard that if a particular colour were isolated, he could make our microscopic studio look bigger by inlaying artwork behind (and sometimes in front) of the performers, and give perspective by “drawing” the scenery. The illustrator Bob Gale agreed to create dozens of artwork captions for each programme. But the studio size restricted our efforts, and an infuriating blue halo would keep appearing round the performers.

So when we did The Snow Queen (1976), an hour-long fairy tale with live actors and animated cartoon animals in the same shot, we graduated to a larger studio. Until that moment there had been an edict that “the BBC does not do fairy tales”. They were considered too difficult. But bolstered by sheer ignorance, and the new possibilities of blue screen, Andrew and I ignored the rule and went for it. The Snow Queen certainly had plenty of rough edges but, as noone had seen anything quite like it before on television, we got away with it. The programme, shown on BBC2 on Christmas Day, sold all over the world.

Andrew was born in West Tytherley, Hampshire, one of four children of Robin, a farmer, and his wife, Angela. The success of his Eton production of Murder in the Cathedral resulted in Andrew being selected for a job with the Oxford Playhouse. He then worked as an “ASM and small parts” at the Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, Yorkshire, followed by a stint with the Century travelling theatre. He became a trainee at Associated Redifussion television in the 1960s, and learned film editing. At the Gordon Bradley production company he edited early pop promos, including Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields by the Beatles.

Joining BBC2 in the late 1960s, Andrew edited films for arts features. Then he worked on the long-running Late Night Line-Up and a film celebrating Wordsworth’s bicentenary (1970), which was our first collaboration. Andrew switched to studio directing for LNLU and its spin-off Up Sunday (1972-73), with Willie Rushton, Clive James, James Cameron (“the conscience of Fleet Street”) and Kenny Everett. There was something of “the Fringe” about it; we were certainly strapped for cash.

After the Snow Queen came an “experimental musical”, with artwork by Graham McCallum, In the Looking Glass (1977). The Light Princess (1978) and The Mystery of the Disappearing Schoolgirls (1980) both featured artwork by the children’s illustrator Errol le Cain. Andrew directed them with a reassuring calmness that he did not necessarily feel.

The Ghost Downstairs (1982) received a Design and Art Direction award for the best use of graphics in a drama – and caught the eye of the animation director Richard Williams, celebrated for his Oscar-winning film of A Christmas Carol (1971). He suggested we make a Hollywood feature using the new techniques, but the BBC was not into that sort of thing – so Williams did it himself, as animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Andrew worked with blue (and green) screen for the TV movies Moving Pictures (1980), with Alison Steadman and Wells, and The Pyrates (1986), an adaptation of George Macdonald Fraser’s book. He and I also made rather more conventional programmes, including two series of the sketch show Rutland Weekend Television (1975-76) with Eric Idle and The Innes Book of Records (1978-81) with Neil Innes.

Then Andrew saw a copy of the Mirror’s “Jane” strip cartoons in a Soho bookshop and in 1982 we did two series featuring Glynis Barber as the accident-prone glamour girl. The programme won a Royal Television Society original programme award, two Baftas for McCallum’s wonderful artwork, and featured on a Radio Times cover.

Together Andrew and I made an assortment of gardening programmes for Catalyst TV, including Geoff Hamilton’s Gardener’s World. Andrew directed a Canadian musical, The King of Friday Night (1985) and a musical documentary in Australia, Song of the Outback (2010). He was a prime mover in several TV development projects in Kenya (1995) and Uganda (1998-99), including soap operas that promoted important underlying messages on health and education. Our April fool spoof A Question of Fact (1986), which suggested that Hitler had visited the UK at the invitation of Unity Mitford, featured in a retrospective screening at the National Film Theatre on 1 April 2014.

For many years Andrew and his second wife, Imogen Halahan, and their daughter, Matilda, lived an idyllic existence on the island of Osea in the Blackwater Estuary, Essex. The island was the subject of his 1981 film Causeway’s End. Andrew enjoyed sailing, and loved cycling (10 miles every day, minimum). That interest was immortalised in Bicycle Clips (1983). His outlook on life was always cheerful. Even during his last long illness he emanated a feeling of optimism. He was a great family man, the perfect work colleague and a wonderful friend.

He is survived by Imogen, whom he married in 1977, and Matilda; by two daughters, Amanda and Catherine, from his first marriage, to Rosie, which ended in divorce; and by his sister, Annabel, and brothers, Alexander and Robert.

• Andrew Gosling, television director and producer, born 26 October 1944; died 11 May 2016

GOSLING, Andrew (Andrew Edward Gosling)

Born: 10/26/1944, West Tytherley, Hampshire, U.K.

Died: 5/11/2016, Essex, England, U.K.

Andrew Gosling’s western – film editor:

Scenes from Django Unchained - UK Winner - 2013

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