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RIP Bill Paxton

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Actor Bill Paxton, 61, dies after complications from surgery

Los Angeles Times
By Randall Roberts
February 26, 2017

Bill Paxton, who earned success through roles in movies including “Apollo 13,” “Titanic,” “A Simple Plan,” “Weird Science,” “Twister” and “True Lies,” as well as that of a polygamist Mormon businessman in the hit HBO series “Big Love,” has died.

The actor, who was 61, died due to complications from surgery, according to a statement from a representative of Paxton’s family.

“A loving husband and father, Bill began his career in Hollywood working on films in the art department and went on to have an illustrious career spanning four decades as a beloved and prolific actor and filmmaker,” read the statement, in part. “Bill's passion for the arts was felt by all who knew him, and his warmth and tireless energy were undeniable.”

That warmth earned Paxton a career that began in B-movies, experimental film and music videos, moved through bit parts in big pictures and, ultimately, leading roles. The epitome of a working actor, he described to The Times his on-screen presence as that of “a very straight-looking guy, very old-fashioned.”

"I consider myself an everyman, and there will always be an underdog quality to my stuff," Paxton told Cosmopolitan magazine in a 1995 interview.

Paxton often found a way to make these roles his own. One memorable moment? As Pvt. Hudson in James Cameron’s film “Aliens,” Paxton’s desperate, defeated whine after a spaceship crash became a catch-phrase: “Game over, man! Game over!”

Born William Paxton in Fort Worth, Texas, the actor was the son of a hardwood salesman and, he told “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross in a 2009 interview, expected that he’d follow the same path. But after taking theater classes in high school, Paxton made a decision to become an actor.

He relocated to Los Angeles when he was in his late teens. One of his first gigs was at New World Pictures as a set designer for famed B-movie producer and director Roger Corman on the Angie Dickenson movie “Big Bad Mama.” A year later, he acted in “Crazy Mama,” a New World production directed by a young Jonathan Demme.

The actor continued with set design gigs while making inroads in front of the camera. Early appearances included a starring role in “Fish Heads” (1980), a cult-classic novelty video for the music duo Barnes & Barnes, which Paxton directed and that aired on “Saturday Night Live.”

As the jerky brother Chet in “Weird Science” (1985), a young Paxton reveled in the character’s over-the-top antipathy. In one memorable scene, blowing cigar smoke into his younger brother’s face, he said, “How about a nice, greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?”

Paxton played a blue-haired punk rocker in an opening scene of “The Terminator,” a role that led to a friendship with director Cameron and jobs in “Aliens,” “True Lies” and “Titanic.” Paxton’s acclaimed turn in “Apollo 13,” where he was cast alongside Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon, further confirmed the actor’s abilities. 

"Every day you're taking a final exam as an actor,” Paxton told the late film critic Roger Ebert in 1998, while discussing his work in “A Simple Plan.”

As Hank in “A Simple Plan,” Paxton harnessed his average-Joe demeanor in service of a career-defining role alongside Billy Bob Thornton. After their two characters find millions of dollars in the woods, Paxton’s Hank endures hardships that reveal the ways in which good men can do bad things.

“I don’t play my characters with any judgment,” he told Gross. “I don’t think it’s possible to play any character with judgment.”

The actor carried that philosophy into one of his most notable performances, as Bill Henrickson in “Big Love.” As the polygamist patriarch, Paxton played a husband juggling family, work and spirituality — with three wives, a half-dozen children and a sect-wide family feud.

When “Big Love” concluded, Paxton told The Times’ Mary McNamara that he faced a hurdle. “It was the only steady job I've ever had as an adult,” he said. “But then nobody knew really what to do with me.”

As was always the case, though, Paxton found work. He earned an Emmy nomination in 2012 for the miniseries “Hatfields and McCoys,” and had a recurrent role in the TV series “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Paxton was starring as Det. Frank Rourke in the first season of the CBS series “Training Day.” The 13 episodes finished shooting in December, with nine still set to air.

CBS and Warner Bros. Television praised Paxton’s work in a statement issued Sunday morning.

It read, in part: “Bill was, of course, a gifted and popular actor with so many memorable roles on film and television. His colleagues at CBS and Warner Bros. Television will also remember a guy who lit up every room with infectious charm, energy and warmth, and as a great storyteller who loved to share entertaining anecdotes and stories about his work.”

Paxton is survived by his wife, Louise, and two children, James and Lydia.


PAXTON, Bill (William Paxton)
Born: 5/17/1955, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Died: 2/25/2017, U.S.A.

Bill Paxton’s westerns – actor:
Tombstone – 1993 (Morgan Earp)
Frank & Jesse – 1995 (Frank James)
Hatfields & McCoys (TV) 2012 (Randall McCoy)
Red Wing – 2013 (Jim Verret)
Texas Rising (TV) – 2015 (Sam Houston)

RIP Jennifer Watson

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Ventura County Star
February 28, 2017

Jennifer Watson 56, of Camarillo, Stunt Women-Film & Television, died at St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Ventura County, California February 13, 2017.

Jennifer Hunt Watson, also known as Jennifer Watson-Johnston, (born 12 November – died 13 February 2017) was a stuntwoman and stunt actress who performed stunts in Star Trek: Insurrection.

In 2001 she was nominated for a Taurus World Stunt Award for best water work in the film The Perfect Storm alongside Star Trek stunt performers Dana Dru Evenson, George Wilbur, and Tim Rigby.

Watson has performed stunts in films such as Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988, with Peter Mark Richman and David Q. Combs), A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988, with Lisa Wilcox, Brooke Bundy, and stunts by Doc Charbonneau, Maria R. Kelly, Lane Leavitt, Paula Moody, Noon Orsatti, and Kimberly L. Ryusaki), The Rapture (1991, with Darwyn Carson, Scott Burkholder, Vince Grant, and Carole Davis), Far and Away (1992, with Colm Meaney), Hexed (1993, with Robin Curtis), Hocus Pocus (1993), Bad Girls (1994, with Jim Beaver and stunts by Anthony De Longis and Denise Lynne Roberts), Showgirls (1995), Alien Nation: The Enemy Within (1996, with Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michele Scarabelli, Wayne Pere, Tiny Ron, Joe Lando, Kerrie Keane, Patrick Kerr, and stunts by Chris Antonucci, Paul Eliopoulos, Denney Pierce, and Nancy Thurston), Absolute Power (1997), Kiss the Girls (1997, with Ashley Judd), Blade (1998), Cast Away (2000, with Valerie Wildman, Geoffrey Blake, and stunts by Richard L. Blackwell, Bud Davis, Doug Coleman, Hugh Aodh O'Brien, Peewee Piemonte, and Lynn Salvatori), and Texas Rangers (2001).

She has also performed stunts in television series such as Dangerous Women and Team Knight Rider.

On 13 February 2017, Hunt Watson died at St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Ventura County, California.

Arrangements by Coast Cities Cremations.


WATSON, Jennifer (Jennifer Hunt Watson)
Born: 11/12/1960
Died: 2/13/2017, Camarillo, California, U.S.A.

Jennifer Watson’s westerns – stuntwoman:
Bonanza: The Next Generation (TV) - 1988
Three Amigos! - 1986
Back to the Future Part III – 1990
Far and Away – 1992
Bad Girls – 1994
The Avenging Angel – 1995 (TV)
The Cowboy and the Movie Star (TV) - 1998
Texas Rangers - 2001

RIP Martin Lüttge

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"Tatort" Commissioner Flemming
Martin Lüttge is dead

He became known in the early 1990s as the thoughtful "Tatort" Commissioner Flemming.  Now Martin Lüttge has died at the age of 73 years.

Spiegel
2/27/2017

He assumed a heavy inheritance.  When Martin Lüttge appeared in 1992 as Commissioner Bernd Flemming, he was supposed to fill the gap, which had been torn by the departure of Götz George in the role of Horst Schimanski.  The WDR was now seeking a successor to the Ruhr area.

Lüttge did not even try to emulate the sympathetic rascal George: Instead of finding himself in the proletarian primal mud of Duisburg, his Flemming in bourgeois Düsseldorf, instead of seeking relaxation at one-night stands, he retired after his work on his farm far from of the city.

Lüttge's television director Flemming was more of a thoughtful type.  And when he did not think about it, he would sweat on his farm in the sauna.  Instead of using his biceps, he developed his brain.

Great performance as a fist

The actor was born in Hamburg and had a considerable physical presence.  At the end of the fifties he went to England, where he worked in the acting industry, playing in theaters.  Back in Germany he attended the Neue Münchner Schauspielschule.

As a theatrical actor, Lüttge always filled the stage, for instance as Faust in the production of Claus Peymann at the Staatstheater Stuttgart 1977. Previously he was active at the Munich Kammerspielen and at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. In 1978 the farmers and colleagues established a theater on a farm in Mehring near Burghausen, which became known as Theaterhof Priessenthal.

Lüttge was featured in major television productions such as "Der Lord von Barmbeck" (1973), "Die Wannseekonferenz" (1984) or "In the Shadow of Power" (2003).  He played his role as a "Tatort" commissioner Flemming only a relatively limited time, overall he appeared in 15 assignments.

Nevertheless, his Düsseldorfer Fernsehenhrevier also has a certain significance for the current "Tatort" Germany: As Klaus Flemming-Sidekick, Klaus J. Behrend played first roles in the role of Max Ballauf , the investigator who is still active in Cologne's "Tatort".  Just the 20th anniversary of this TV-station was celebrated .

Lüttge, however, was active his last years in another German TV show: until 2013, he had a fixed role in the series "Forsthaus Falkenau".  As his agent reported, Martin Lüttge passed away last Wednesday in Schleswig-Holstein.  He was 73 years old.


LUTTGE, Martin
Born: 7/7/1943, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Died: 2/22/2017, Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany


Martin Lüttge’s western – actor:
The Blue Hotel – 1973 (Johnny Scully)

RIP Tommy Truex

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Salazar Funeral Homes

Tommy Mac Truex, 32, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Snohomish, Washington, died suddenly of a heart attack on Sunday, February 12, 2017 in Albuquerque.

Tommy was born May 11, 1984, in Bellevue, Washington.

His passion for life fueled every facet of his professional endeavors, whether it was as a Captain in the United States Army, professional MMA fighter, movie stuntman, health and fitness trainer, entrepreneur, or philanthropist.

Tommy proudly served his country from a young age, having joined the Washington State National Guard in 2002. He completed his basic and advanced infantry training shortly afterward at Fort Benning, Georgia. A seasoned combat veteran, Tommy served in the second wave of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004 to 2005 with the 161st Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Washington. He worked as an Army recruiter at the University of Washington from 2007 to 2008. He was a part of the 2nd Peacekeeping tour in Egypt for all of 2012. Tommy was promoted in rank to Captain in the United States Army in 2015. Tommy was serving as a logistics officer for the United States Army Reserve.

An accomplished actor and stuntman, Tommy had been enjoying a burgeoning movie career, with several feature films to his credit.

Tommy had been involved in Mixed Martial Arts for several years. He co-founded the MMA Student Club when he attended Central Washington University in 2006. He was a professional MMA fighter, most recently fighting with the world renowned Jackson's MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Tommy earned his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from the University of New Mexico in 2008.

Tommy was the founder of Desert Forge Crossfit in 2013, where his enthusiasm and drive brought in 100 members in the first month alone.

Tommy served as the Vice President of the Desert Forge Foundation - an organization dedicated to providing education and employment to veterans through agriculture.

His father writes "It is sad to write that we have lost our Son Tommy. He was a star in the world that did more and gave more than most men at 32. There are not enough words to tell you all the positive things he had done and all of the people he had touched. Tommy was a great son growing up. He was an officer in the United States Army. Tommy had just gotten married to Alex and had a son, Wyatt and daughter, Brody Mac. He loved and cherished them deeply. I can hear him saying 'Mom and Dad - it's ok.' Our family and his friends are truly heartbroken. He was an actor and stuntman in many movies and had just retired two years ago from being a Professional MMA fighter. He truly loved life and did great things. He loved all of his friends and family deeply. If you knew him, he had a great sense of humor like his Mom. Tommy would do anything for you. As his father, I was blessed beyond belief and could not have asked for a better son. Thank you for being there for us. Our thoughts and prayers are with all his family and friends."

Tommy is survived by his wife, Alex Truex; son Wyatt and daughter Brody Mac; parents, Tom and Marie Truex; brother Timmy and twin sisters Tara Vasquez and husband Gabriel, and Sara Truex; Uncle Mike and Aunt Cathy Williams; Uncle Poncho; cousins Jeffrey Williams and wife Krystal, and Rosie Osthus and husband Evan; nephews Wesley, Toby, Logan and Charlie; nieces Kassidy, Briella, and Janee.

Tommy is preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Bill and Anne Valentine, and paternal grandparents, Bill and Loene Truex and Dorene Truex.

Tommy's Life Celebration will begin with a Visitation at Legacy Church (7201 Central NW) on Wednesday, February 22, 2017 10:00 AM, followed by a service at 10:30 AM also at Legacy Church. Burial will follow at a later date in Washington state.


TRUEX, Tommy
Born: 5/11/1984, Bellevue, Washington, U.S.A.
Died: 2/12/2017, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.

Tommy Truex’s westerns – stuntman:
Longmire (TV) – 2013
A Million Ways to Die in the West – 2014
Justice - 2016

RIP Daniel Goldstein

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ABC Cultura
2/27/2017

The Argentinean Daniel Goldstein , a key figure in Spanish cinematographic sound and winner of three Goyas for "Todos a la cárcel" (1993), "Tesis" (1996) and "Los otros" (2001), has died, Academy of Cinema in a statement.

Born in Argentina, this sound designer developed his career in Spain from the eighties and was one of the pioneers, along with Ricardo Steinberg and Carlos Faruolo, in reintroducing direct sound technique in this country after 30 years of stoppage .

Goldstein dedicated himself to opera and musical theater until he received the call of Carlos Saura and his production manager, Emiliano Otegui, to join as a sound designer to the filming of "El amor brujo" (1986).

This work served as an impulse to jump to outstanding productions such as "El viaje a ninguna parte", by Fernando Fernán Gómez; “La mitad del cielo”, by Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón or “Remando al viento” by Gonzalo Suárez ; and already in the 90, "The ages of Lulu", Bigas Luna; “Alas de Mariposa” by Juanma Bajo Ulloa , or “Acción mutante” by Álex de la Iglesia .

Throughout nineteen years, since joining the cast of Saura's film, his career was linked to that of Steinberg, with whom he worked on films such as "Tesis", Alejandro Amenábar 's debut feature.

Beyond sound, as a professional couple and together with José Luis Cuerda , Emiliano Otegui and Julio Madurga set up The Productions of the Scorpion, company from which they supported the first three films of Amenábar and "The language of the butterflies", by José Luis Cuerda .

Goldstein chose the Goya Awards eleven times and took the statuette three times. Throughout his career, his work was also required by filmmakers such as Álvaro Fernández Armero ("Todo es mentira"), Montxo Armendáriz ("Historias del Kronen"), Agustín Díaz Yanes ("Nadie hablará de nosotras cuando hayamos muerto"), Adolfo Aristarain ("Martín (Hache"), Achero Mañas ("El bola") or Daniel Sánchez Arévalo ("Azuloscurocasinegro"), among others.

In the last years, he became a teacher at the School of Cinematography and Audiovisual of the Community of Madrid (ECAM) and was director of production in the post-production studio of Best Digital.

From this company he participated in the productions "Encontrarás dragones”, “Torrente 5: Operación Eurovegas” and “Mortadelo y Filemón contra Jimmy el Cachondo”.


GOLDSTEIN, Daniel
Born: 19??, Argentina
Died: 2/?/2017

Daniel Goldstein’s western – production manager:
At Full Gallop - 2000

RIP Stephen Lodge

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The Desert Sun
March 5, 2017

Stephen C. Lodge

Feb. 6, 1943 - Feb. 26, 2017

After battling years of illness, Steve passed away with his wife and family by his side.

Steve was born in Long Beach, CA, to parents Vera and Abner Lodge. He lived in the Southern California area until moving to Rancho Mirage in 1984 where he spent the rest of his life.

Steve was a child actor and worked in the wardrobe department in the movie industry. He started writing scripts and novels during this time. Writing became his passion and he achieved his dream of becoming a published author more than ten years ago. He was also blessed to have written three screenplays which were made in to movies.

He had a huge heart for helping others and recently celebrated 35 years in a 12 step program.

Steve is survived by his wife of 20 years, Beth. Brothers Robert, Colin, and Dennis. Sisters Shannon, Linda, Carol and Staci along with many nieces and nephews. He was proceeded in death by his sister Sharon and brother Randy.

His life was made richer by the love of his many, many friends.

Steve's wife will be forever grateful to his wonderful doctors and the amazing care he received from the nursing staff on 4 South at EMC.

Services will be held Saturday, March 11th at 4pm at Fellowship Hall located at 45940 Portola, Palm Desert, CA.

In Lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Orphan Pet Oasis, PO Box 580798 N. Palm Springs, CA 92258 in Steve's name.

To view and sign this guestbook, please visit:


LODGE, Stephen (Stephen C. Lodge)
Born: 2/6/1943, Long Beach, California, U.S.A.
Died: 2/26/2017, Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.A.

Stephen Lodge’s westerns: stuntman, actor, writer, costume supervisor, set cosumer.
Fury (TV) – 1956 [Boy Scout]
Wrangler (TV) – 1960 [stunts]
Dundee and the Culhane (TV) – 1967 [set costumer]
Here Come the Brides (TV) – 1968-1969 [set costumer]
The Honkers 1972 [wardrobe, writer]
The Duchess and the Dirt Water Fox – 1976 [set costumer]
Law of the Land (TV) [costume supervisor]
Wanted: The Sundance Woman (TV) – 1976 (costume supervisor)
Rio Diablo (TV) – 1993 [writer]

RIP Miriam Colon

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Miriam Colon, Iconic Latina Film and Theater Actress, Dies at 80

The Hollywood Reporter
3/3/2017

Colon is most widely known for her role as Al Pacino's mother in 1983's 'Scarface.'

Miriam Colon, an icon in U.S. Latino theater who starred in films alongside Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, has died.

Her husband, Fred Valle, told The Associated Press that Colon died early Friday because of complications from a pulmonary infection. She was 80 years old.

Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Colon came to Los Angeles in the 1950s to study at the Actors Studio before earning roles in various films. She eventually founded the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in New York where she helped cultivate young Latino actors and writers.

She is widely known as the mother of Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino, in the 1983 movie Scarface.

Colon earned acclaim for her role as the New Mexico Hispanic healer, Ultima, in the 2013 movie "Bless Me, Ultima" based on the novel by Rudolfo Anaya.


COLON, Miriam (Miriam Colon Valle)
Born: 8/20/1936, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Died: 3/3/2017, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.

Miriam Colon’s westerns – actress:
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1962, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974 (Kisla, Shona, Amelita Avila, Indian woman, Mora, Paulette Duvalier, Mignon Anderson
Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1959 (Rita)
Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1959 (Mrs. Gomez)
Bronco (TV) – 1960 (Abrana)
The Deputy (TV) – 1960 (Cita)
Overland Trail (TV) – 1960 (Aloka)
One Eyed Jacks (TV) – 1961 (Redhead)
The Tall Man (TV) – 1962 (Angelita Sanchez)
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1963 (Maria)
The Great Adventure (TV) – 1963 (Sarah Crow)
Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1963 Punya)
Laramie (TV) – 1963 (Winema)
The Appaloosa – 1966 (Ana)
The Legend of Jesse James (TV) – 1966 (Theresa)
The Virginian (TV) – 1967 (Eva Talbot)
The High Chaparral (TV) – 1968 (Trinidad)
Bonanza (TV) – 1969 (Anita Lavez)
The Desperate Mission (TV) – 1969 (Claudina)
Streets of Laredo (TV) – 1995 (Estrella)
Lone Star – 1996 (Mercedes Cruz)
All the Pretty Horses – 2000 (Dona Alfonsa)

RIP Vladimir Tadej

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DIED Vladimir Tadej who worked for the famous director of many movies for kids and dozens of Croatian and Yugoslavian films as a set design

Jutarnji Kultura
By Objavljeno
3/1/2017

He directed dozens of Croatian and Yugoslavian films as a set designer, Vladimir Tadej has died at age 92.

Vladimir Tadej was born in Novska in 1925, he studied architecture at the Technical Faculty in Zagreb, and perfected scenery design at the studio Barrandov in Prague. As the most prominent Croatian film production designer he worked on about a hundred films, ranging from realistic and reconstruction scenery (Bakonja fra Brne F. Hanžekovića, 1951; Izgubljena olovka F. Skubonja, 1960; Battle of Britain V. Bulajic, 1969, in U gori raste zelen bor A. Vrdoljak, 1971), do naturalističkih (Tei Ana B. Bauer, 1959) and others, to civil and modern design (Jubilej gospodina Ikla V. Mimica, 1955, Samo ljudi  B. Bauer, 1957 Pustolov pred vratima W. Šimatović 1961; Kaya, I Kaja, ubit ću te! V. Mimica, 1967).

He was a co-writer on several animated films, he directed the cartoon Sve želje svijeta (1966) and eight feature films, among which were particularly successful with children: Pera Kvrzica (1970), Hajdučka time (1977), Tajna starog tavana (1984) Kanjon opasnih igara (1998). Zapažene su bile i komedija Žuta (1973) and the war drama Hitler iz našeg sokaka (1975). Other films (as director): Pakleni otok (1979), Anticasanova (1985).

He was awarded a Dobio "Vladimir Nazor" for lifetime achievement in 2004.

TADEJ, Vladimir
Born: 5/9/1925, Novska, Croati, Yugoslavia
Died: 3/1/2017

Vladimir Tadej’s westerns – production designer, art director, writer.
Cowboy Jimmy – 1957 [writer]
Apache Gold – 1963 [production design]
Frontier Hellcat – 1964 [production design]
Last of the Renegades – 1964 [production design]
Desperado Trail – 1965 [art direction]
Flaming Frontier – 1965 [production design]
The Halfbreed – 1966 [production design]
Thunder at the Border – 1966 [production design]
The Valley of Death – 1968 [production design]
Auf den Spuren Winnetous – 2004 [himself]


RIP Hadley Barrett

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Voice of Buffalo Bill Rodeo dead at 87

The North Platte Telegraph
By Kamie Stephen
March 2, 2017

Hadley Barrett, a North Platte native and the voice of the Buffalo Bill PRCA Rodeo, has died. He was 87 years old.

“We were so heartbroken this morning to learn of the passing of our old friend Hadley Barrett,” said a Facebook post from NEBRASKAland Days on Thursday morning. “Hadley was our native son who became one of the iconic voices of not only the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, but to an entire generation of rodeo fans.”

Barrett was born Sept. 18, 1929, in North Platte.

According to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, Barrett formed a dance band called Hadley Barrett and the Westerners. The band played across the region for more than 30 years. Barrett sang and played guitar.
Several comments on the NEBRASKAland Days post mentioned dancing to the band during events like prom. The band even played with Grand Ol’ Opry stars including Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Johnny Cash and Little Jimmy Dickens. Eventually, Barrett was inducted into the Nebraska Country Music Hall of Fame.

Although Barrett is known for his voice, it wasn’t because of his music. Barrett started his career in rodeo as a competitor, but he ended up behind a microphone when another announcer fell ill.

In 2015, the Rodeo News shared the story behind Barrett’s start in an article titled “On the Trail with Hadley Barrett.” Barrett was friends with a rodeo announcer who’d find a substitute to take the microphone while he climbed up on his bull. Sometimes, the substitute was Barrett.

One evening during a rodeo in Arnold, Barrett’s friend ended up with the flu and asked him to fill in. That was his first full announcement gig.

According to Rodeo News, this first gig led to amateur rodeos across the Midwest asking for Barrett. A committee member from the Buffalo Bill Rodeo told Barrett they wanted his voice for the 1964 rodeo in North Platte.

The problem was that Barrett wasn’t a Rodeo Cowboys Association cardholder. The RCA told organizers of the Buffalo Bill Rodeo that they couldn’t hire him — and organizers told the RCA that if they couldn’t hire Barrett, they weren’t going to be an RCA rodeo. The RCA made an exception.

Barrett gave up a number of contracts with amateur rodeos and began working for RCA members and increasingly larger rodeos, including the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.

“Hadley had the unique ability to explain idiosyncrasies of rodeo to those less familiar with the sport — he intimately knew the resume of the contestants, would explain the scoring system, and even knew the demeanor and habits of the bucking stock. With kindness and humor, Hadley was an amazing professional — he had the capacity to maintain the same high level energy and engagement for 21 consecutive performances,” a statement from the stock show said.

This was the 28th year in a row that Barrett had announced the event, which ended last week.

During his career Barrett was named PRCA Announcer of the year four times, although he was nominated almost every year. Over the years he had also been chosen to announce the Working Ranch Cowboys Association World Finals, the Canadian Finals Rodeo and the World Championship Rodeo Bullfights and was named the Prairie Circuit Announcer of the Year, the WPRA Announcer of the Year, the World Cup Rodeo Australia announcer, the Winston Pro Rodeo Tour announcer and the Madison Square Gardens announcer.

In 1999, he was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

“We are saddened to hear of the loss of a great rodeo announcer and friend of professional rodeo, Hadley Barrett,” Kent Sturman, director of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy, said in an email Thursday. “Hadley was one of the best rodeo announcers of all time and he will be greatly missed.”

Barrett’s ProRodeo Hall of Fame entry states that he was a pioneer of announcing from the back of a horse and was credited with an honest approach to arena accidents and mishaps. Sturman said Barrett was a true professional and a great human being.

“No one will ever be able to fill his boots,” Sturman said.


BARRETT, Hadley
Born: 9/18/1929, North Platte, Nebraska, U.S.A.
Died: 3/2/2017, Denver Colorado, U.S.A.

Hadley Barrett’s western:
8 Seconds – 1994 (Rodeo Announcer)

RIP Robert Osborne

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Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies host, dies at 84

U.S.A. Today
By Maria Puente
March 6, 2017

Robert Osborne, the film historian and former actor who became beloved as the affable host of Turner Classic Movies, has died, the network announced Monday. He was 84.

The cable network announced his death in a tweet, but did not disclose a cause. The network told The Associated Press he died Monday in New York.

Jennifer Dorian, TCM's general manager, said in a statement on Twitter that he was a "beloved member of the Turner family for 23 years."

"He joined us as an expert on classic film and grew to be our cherished colleague and esteemed ambassador for TCM," the tweet said.

Osborne was embraced by "devoted fans" as a trusted expert and a calming presence, with a gentlemanly style, encyclopedic knowledge of film history and highly personal interviewing style. He also was a fervent support for film preservation, her statement said.

"(It) all combined to make him a truly world-class host," she wrote. "Robert's contributions were fundamental in shaping TCM into what it is today."

Osborne hosted four prime-time movies every night, seven days per week for TCM. He also hosted special one-on-one interviews with numerous stars and filmmakers such as Lauren Bacall, Angela Lansbury, Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Quinn, Jack Lemmon and Robert Mitchum. He also co-hosted, currently with Alec Baldwin, Essentials, a series of films considered to be "essential viewing" for anyone seeking a well-rounded knowledge of the best films ever made.

Prior to working at TCM, he had been a host on The Movie Channel, and worked as a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter. In 1988, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences commissioned him to write an official history of the Academy Awards, 60 Years of the Oscar.


OSBORNE, Robert
Born: 5/3/1932, Colfax, Washington, U.S.A.
Died: 3/6/2017, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Robert Osborne’s westerns – actor:
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1954 (1st stage driver)
The Californians (TV) – 1958 (Corey Harris)

RIP Ric Marlow

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Ric Marlow, 'A Taste of Honey' Songwriter, Dies at 91

The Hollywood Reporter
By Mike Barnes
3/6/2017

His tune won him a Grammy in 1962 and was made even more famous by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.

Ric Marlow, who co-wrote the 1960s pop song "A Taste of Honey" that earned him a Grammy Award and became a huge instrumental hit for Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, has died. He was 91.

Marlow died Feb. 28 in Palm Springs, his stepson, Dalton Teczon, announced.

Marlow also worked as an actor, appearing on such shows as Bonanza, Death Valley Days, Sea Hunt, Hawaii 5-0 and Magnum, P.I.

Marlow and Bobby Scott co-wrote "A Taste of Honey" as the title song for a 1960 Broadway adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's British play that also was made into a 1961 film directed by Tony Richardson.

Their song won the 1962 Grammy for best instrumental theme. Three years later, Alpert's version collected four Grammys, including song of the year, and went as high as No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

"A Taste of Honey" with Marlow's lyrics also was recorded by The Beatles, Lenny Welch, Barbra Streisand, Billy Dee Williams, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett and scores of others.

A native of New York, Marlow was married in the 1950s to actress Leslie Parrish (L'il Abner, The Manchurian Candidate).


MARLOW, Ric (Eric Schafler)
Born: 12/21/1925, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 2/28/2017, Palm Springs, California, U.S.A.

Ric Marlow’s westerns – actor:
Bonanza (TV) – 1960 (scoffing townsman, Morgan)
Pony Express (TV) – 1960 (Ward)
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1961
Lawman (TV) – 1961 (Willis)
Two Faces West (TV) - 1961

RIP Fred Weintraub

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Fred Weintraub, who financed 'Woodstock' and helped discover Bruce Lee, dies at 88

Los Angeles Times 

By Randall Roberts

March 7, 2017

Were it not for the renegade work of club owner, Hollywood producer and self-described showman Fred Weintraub, the lives of Bruce Lee, Frankie Valli, Neil Diamond, Richard Pryor and Woody Allen, to say nothing of the mud-encrusted hippies Weintraub captured in the film “Woodstock,” might have taken other turns.

Weintraub died Sunday, leaving a legacy that included founding the storied New York folk and comedy club the Bitter End, green-lighting a music festival shoot that became the documentary “Woodstock” and signing the young martial arts expert Lee to star in the Weintraub-produced movie “Enter the Dragon.”

He died of natural causes after living with Parkinson’s disease, wife Jackie Dubey-Weintraub said.
Across his 88 years, Weintraub experienced a lot of adventure, and although much of it was behind the scenes, his mark on culture runs deep.

“From the mean streets of Fort Apache, the East Bronx,” he wrote in “Bruce Lee, Woodstock and Me,” his rollicking 2012 autobiography, “to an island fortress in Hong Kong; from a Cuban jail cell shared with cockroaches, to a stroll down the red carpet at Cannes shared with the Beatles, I’ve pretty much seen it all. Or at least as much as any nice, Jewish, Ritalin-deprived Depression baby could ever hope to see and do.”

Fred Robert Weintraub was born in the Bronx in 1928, the only son of parents who owned and operated two baby furniture stores. Weintraub, who had two sisters, inherited that appetite for retail.
After attending the Wharton School of Business, he took over the family’s Darling Furniture and Toy company, where the driven entrepreneur expanded the business to 50 stores and sold it in the late 1950s. Cuba was calling, so he made a foray to Havana. He landed a gig playing piano in a house of ill repute.

While there, Weintraub recounted being arrested and falsely accused of gun-running. He spent a few days in jail and upon release, eventually returned to New York City. Greenwich Village was a center of youth culture at the time, and Weintraub needed “a way to burn up the restless energy that had plagued me since childhood,” he wrote in his autobiography, which was co-authored with David Fields. He took over the lease on a little Village coffeehouse that he renamed the Bitter End.

Among those who performed at the Bitter End when Weintraub owned it were Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, George Carlin, Bill Cosby and Joan Rivers. On their debut album, the folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary posed in front of the Bitter End’s famous brick wall, an iconic backdrop that has since become the de facto standard for comedy clubs.

“My earliest memory of the Bitter End,” Allen said in “Bruce Lee, Woodstock and Me,” “is that people told me it was a place for young people starting out, particularly at the Tuesday night Hootenanny. I went over, and Fred, who looked like a character who stepped out of a Russian novel, was instantly very warm, friendly and encouraging.”

Weintraub sold the Bitter End and started producing for TV, where his early successes include creating the seminal music series “Hootenanny.”

When his friend Ted Ashley became the head of Warner Bros. film studio, Weintraub was hired as an executive in charge of production. “After ‘Easy Rider’ did so well, they wanted to hire someone with a ponytail down to his behind,” he told Variety in 1994.

Weintraub fit the bill, and the hire paid off. One of Weintraub’s first projects for the company was helping to finance “Woodstock” after being contacted by desperate festival organizers who needed film gear but were running out of money. According to Weintraub’s account in the New York Post, Warner Bros.’ $500,000 investment helped “Woodstock” earn $32 million during its theatrical run.
He had found his calling. After producing the George C. Scott vehicle “Rage,” Weintraub set his sights on the kind of martial arts movies earning profits in Hong Kong. With a script in hand and looking to adapt that action for American audiences, Weintraub cast the young martial arts instructor Lee.

The film, “Enter the Dragon,” went on to gross more than $100 million worldwide, according to Variety. Tragically, Lee died a few days after the film’s release.

But Lee and Weintraub had tapped an emerging market. During the American premiere of “Enter the Dragon,” director Rob Cohen told the Sunday Mail that the turnout at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre was notable. “The audience looked like they had emptied all the jails. It was the most street audience I'd ever seen.”

Weintraub left Warner Bros. to become an independent producer for both TV and film, and saw success with projects including the David Carradine vehicle “Kung Fu” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Long a believer in shoestring budgets, Weintraub decried the excesses of the Hollywood system while making films including “Black Belt Jones,” “Force: Five,” “Under the Gun” and “High Road to China.”

In the early 1990s, Weintraub and his wife, Jackie, helped build Lithuania’s film industry after the fall of the Soviet Union. Seeking a budget-conscious location to shoot the series “The New Adventures of Robin Hood,” the pair opened a door that producers continue to use decades later.

Weintraub’s experiences, especially after turning independent, led him to make a prescient prediction to the Creator’s Project in 2012. “In five years, there'll be 10 million people paying $2 to see a new movie on its first night on the Internet,” he said.

“I found the business fun,” he added. “It's still fun."

In addition to his wife, Weintraub is survived by two daughters, Sandra and Barbara, and two sons, Max and Zachary.


WEINTRAUB, Fred (Fred Robert Weintraub)
Born: 4/27/1928, Bronx, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 3/5/2017, Pacific Palisades, California, U.S.A.

Fred Weintraub’s western – producer:
Tom Horn - 1980

RIP Kenneth Wickes

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National Post
March 15, 2017

Kenneth Wickes, October 9, 1923 - March 12, 2017, Died peacefully in his sleep at Bridgepoint Health Centre, Toronto, surrounded by loving friends, after battling cancer with dignity and determination for the last year of a life well lived. Beloved son of the late Clarence and Ivy Wickes; loyal brother to the late Jack, the late Alan, and to Geoffrey; dear uncle to Claire, Linda, Ian, Paul and Neil Wickes.

Known to countless friends and colleagues as ‘Kenny’,he was born in Buckinghamshire, England, and raised in London. He served in the British Army in Italy and Iraq during the Second World War and was the proud recipient of three military service medals. After graduating from theatre school and performing in London-area theatres, he moved to Canada in 1957. Within one year he received the Best Actor Award at the Dominion Drama Festival for his performance as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot. The curtain had been raised on a distinguished career in theatre, film, radio drama and television that would span half a century.

Kenneth Wickes had a second calling in life: that of a volunteer and Good Samaritan. He devoted decades to fundraising as Treasurer for The Actors Fund of Canada, and was a founding member of The Performing Arts Lodge of Toronto. A resident of PAL Lodge since it opened in 1993, Mr. Wickes served for many years on the Board of Directors and was an eloquent spokesman for the rights of cultural industry workers to affordable, quality housing. Kenneth Wickes may have taken his final curtain call, but will be forever remembered by all whose lives he touched with generosity, kindness and lasting friendship.

Sincere thanks are in order for his close friends at PAL, whose caring support and love for Ken during the past year brought him much comfort.

A celebration of his wonderful life will be held at PAL at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, Ken asked for an in memoriam charitable donation to Performing Arts Lodge Toronto, to help provide nursing services for his fellow residents at PAL Toronto.


WICKES, Kenneth (Kenneth Edward Wilkes)
Born: 10/9/1923, Buckinghamshire, England, U.K.
Died: 3/12/2017, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Kenneth Wilkes’ western – actor:
The Campbells (TV) – 1986 (Curry)

RIP Ingeborg Krabbe

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Bunte
March 18, 2017

Actress and cabaret artist Ingeborg Krabbe died on Friday at the age of 85 years in Berlin.  She succumbed to cancer.

The Leipzig, Germany born actress and cabaret artist Ingeborg Krabbe died on Friday evening in Berlin.  At 85, she succumbed to her cancer after undergoing yearlong treatment, confirmed by her family and her longtime agent, Marc Rosenberg.

Ingeborg Krabbe was "one of the most famous theater, film and television actresses in the GDR", as the obituary of the artist stated.  Important stages of her career: In 1954 she founded the cabaret "Die Pfeffermühle" in Leipzig.  In the same year, she debuted as a film actress in "Der Weg ins Leben".  From 1984 to 1991 she played one of the main roles in the TV series " Schauspielereien".  She recently appeared in various episodes of the TV series " In aller Freundschaft".


KRABBE, Ingeborg (Ingeborg Simmich-Krabbe)
Born: 6/13/1931, Leipzig, Danzig, German Empire
Died: 3/17/2017, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Ingeborg Krabbe’s western – actress:
Tecumseh – 1972 (Mrs. O’Brien)

RIP Lawrence Montaigne

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StarTrek.com
March 18, 2017

StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of Lawrence Montaigne, the veteran actor who played the Romulan, Decius, in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Balance of Terror" in 1966 and returned a year later to portray Stonn, a Vulcan, in "Amok Time." The actor died on Friday, March 17, at the age of 86.

According to the biography on Montaigne's official site, he was born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in Rome, Italy, and developed an early talent for languages, which opened many doors for him as an actor. Trained as a classical dancer, he appeared on Broadway in Hazel Flagg and Shinbone Alley (with Eartha Kitt). He was eventually lured to Hollywood, where he worked with the Hollywood Bowl Ballet Company. In films, he worked as a dancer with such notables as Gene Kelly, Donald O'Conner and Mitzie Gaynor. He studied fencing both in the U.S. and Europe, which afforded him the opportunity to work as a stuntman on Scaramouche, The Three Musketeers, Julius Caesar and in a series of low-budget, swashbuckling films for Sam Katzman at Columbia.

Upon discharge from the Marine Corp, Montaigne's bio continued, he studied drama at The Dramatic Workshop in New York, and was prepared to make the transition into acting when the opportunity arose. He was featured in such films as The Great Escape (with Steve McQueen and James Garner), Tubruk (with Rock Hudson and George Peppard) and The Power (with George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette), and later in Captain Sinbad and Damon & Pythias (both starring Guy Williams), The Mongols (starring Jack Palance and Anita Ekberg) and Escape To Witch Mountain (with Ray Milland and Donald Pleasance.) He starred in Pillar Of Fire (made in Israel), and in Moby Jackson and Rapina Al Quartiere Ovest (both made in Italy.) He worked, over the course of his career, in Italy, Germany, Yugoslavia, Israel, Spain and the U.S. In addition to his film credits, Montaigne, by his own count, appeared in more than 200 episodes of television, including The Outer Limits, The Fugitive, I Spy, The Time Tunnel, Batman, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible and Dallas. According to various sources, including Montaigne himself, the producers of TOS were ready to tap him to replace Leonard Nimoy as Spock when negotiations with with Nimoy seemed unlikely to pan out; they did, however, and Montaigne was invited to play Stonn.

Montaigne, during an extensive interview with StarTrek.com in 2012, said said he and Nimoy never discussed the matter on set or later. "It was history," he explained. "It was over and that’s all there was to it. I moved on. This was the 1960s, and I was doing a whole bunch of shows and films, and having the time of my life. So, when Spock didn’t happen, it really didn’t change my life in any way." It was history. It was over and that’s all there was to it. I moved on. This was the 1960s, and I was doing a whole bunch of shows and films, and having the time of my life. So, when Spock didn’t happen, it really didn’t change my life in any way. It was history. It was over and that’s all there was to it. I moved on. This was the 1960s, and I was doing a whole bunch of shows and films, and having the time of my life. So, when Spock didn’t happen, it really didn’t change my life in any way. Forty-plus years after his TOS roles, Montaigne reprised Stonn in the fan film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, directed by Tim Russ. In addition to his work as an actor and stuntman, he wrote an autobiography, A Vulcan Odyssey, and two novels, The Guardian List and The Barrel of Death. Further, his bio states, he was employed as a proofreader doing medical translations for Worldwide Translations, and taught drama part-time at UNLV, near where he lived in Henderson, Nevada.

As recently as last August, Montaigne was a regular presence at the annual Star Trek Las Vegas gathering. Back in 2012, in our StarTrek.com interview, the actor explained that even so many years after "Balance of Terror" and "Amok Time," he still enjoyed meeting fans, signing autographs, posing for photos and reminiscing.

"I love it," he said. "I’m out of touch. I’m living in Vegas, not in Los Angeles. I’m not in the hub of things. So, when I’m in Vegas, not only do I enjoy seeing the fans, but I have the opportunity to see people I’ve worked with, people I’ve known for years, people I don’t otherwise have an opportunity to see on a social basis because of geography. The fans are so great. Some of the fans come back year in and year out, so we’re on a first-name basis. We’ll talk about the things they’ve done in the past year and, likewise, I’ll talk about what I’ve done. So, it’s a lot of fun. I can’t imagine an actor who’s worked on Star Trek not wanting to get involved and do these conventions." Please join StarTrek.com in extending our condolences to Montaigne's family, friends, colleagues and fans around the world.


MONTAIGNE, Lawrence
Born: 2/26/1931, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 3/17/2017, Henderson, Nevada, U.S.A.

Lawrence Montaigne’s westerns – actor:
Daniel Boone (TV) – 1965, 1967 (Mawson, Hayes Fuller)
Hondo (TV) – 1967 (soldado)
Iron Horse (TV) – 1967 (Jud Moore)
Laredo (TV) – 1967 (Rocco Calvelli)
Here Come the Brides (TV) – 1969 (Keenan)
Bearcats (TV) – 1971 (Koster)
Bonanza (TV) – 1972 (Sid Langley)
The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd (TV) – 1980 (prosecutor)
Dakota – 1988 (Mr. Diamond)

RIP Robert Day

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SeattleTimes
March 21, 2017

DAY Robert Frederick, British film director, passed away on 17th March 2017, aged 94, on Bainbridge Island, Seattle, USA. Known in the UK for his early films The Green Man, Two Way Stretch and The Rebel, and later for TV series. He leaves to mourn his passing, his son Rob, his daughter Roberta and his grandsons, Nicholas and Philip Simons.


DAY, Robert (Robert Frederick Day)
Born: 9/11/1922, Sheen, England, U.K.
Died: 3/17/20917, Bainbridge Island, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Robert Day’s Westerns– director:
Lancer (TV) – 1968-1970
Cade’s County (TV) – 1971-1972
Kodiak (TV) - 1974
Dallas (TV) - 1978
The Quick and the Dead (TV) - 1987

RIP Piero Leri

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Italian film, TV and voice actor Piero Leri (aka Peter Larry) died in Italy on March 1st. Leri’s career started during the first half of the 1960s in roles as a supporting actor. Despite his good dialect and preparation for his roles and a vague resemblance to his more well-known colleague Giuliano Gemma, he was relegated to that large group of character actors in supporting roles. Beginning in the first half of the 1980s he dedicated his career to occasional dubbing activity.


LERI, Piero(Pietro Leri)
Born: 8/4/1939, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Died: 3/2/2017, Italy

Piero Leri's westerns - actor:
Man of the Cursed Valley - 1964 (Torito) [as Peter Larry]
Rick and John, Conquerors of the West – 1967 (accomplice of Barbara)
California – 1977

RIP Tomás Milián

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Tomas Milian has died

The actor had just turned 84 years old. Best known for playing Sergio Marazzi, said "Er Rubbish"


La Stampa
3/23/2017

He died yesterday in Miami, Florida, Tomas Milian stage name of Tomás Quintín Rodríguez Milián. The actor was born in Cuba, near Havana, March 3, 1933. He lived for many years in the U.S. but was best known in Italy where, despite having worked with artists such as Lattuada, Visconti or Maselli, was primarily remembered for his participation in westerns and detective films where he impersonated the inspector Nico Giraldi and the dishonest Sergio Marazzi, called "Er Rubbish".

THE FAMILY AND THE BEGINNING OF CAREER

Tomas Milian is growing in the small village of Cutono near Havana. The family was part of the rich Catholic bourgeoisie. His father was the general Emiliano Rodríguez, in service to the dictator Gerardo Machado. His mother was the niece of a Havana Cardinal.

At 16 Tomas decided to become a professional singer. So, he finished high school, leaving Cuba and left for Florida. He chose Miami and enrolled at the Academy Theatre. In 1958, at age 25, he moved to New York. He attended the Actor's Studio founded by Elia Kazan (and then directed by Lee Strasberg). Meanwhile working as a dishwasher, gas station attendant, parking valet: anything to stay alive as he tried to become an actor. Simultaneously he perfects his English, commitment which allows him to hone his acting skills and earned him an engagement on Broadway. Starting with some minor productions, which are worth the attention of NBC, who were looking for new faces for a television series called Decoy (1957- 58). Directed by Michael Gordon, it is his springboard.

ITALY AND THE CINEMA

Tomas Milian, at the end of the fifties, he was noticed by the French film director Jean Cocteau, who gives him his debut at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto (with the pantomime Le Poète et la Muse, directed by Franco Zeffirelli). And that's where the actor's life is bound to Italy. Milian began working with directors like Michelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci. So, he moved to Italy (getting citizenship in 1969)

Milian returns to the theater in the following years, but he intendeds to establish himself as a film performer reciting during 40 years of activity over a hundred titles, mostly made in Italy. It is in the cinema that he immediately takes the name Tomas Milian.

He made his Italian debut with “La notte brava” (1959) by Mauro Bolognini, quickly establishing itself as one of the most gifted actors of his generation. “Ne I delfini”, by Maselli was made the following year, Milian plays effectively the cynical Alberto De Matteis, intended for marriage to his Fedora girlfriend (Claudia Cardinale). Milian returns to be directed by Bolognini who entrusted him with the role of Edward, the cousin of the protagonist (played by Marcello Mastroianni) in “The bell'Antonio” (1960). With Milian intelligence moves away from the role of the young and rich bourgeois who was in danger of becoming a cliché for him, providing other demonstrations of his talent and the ability to adapt with flexibility to different parts.

In fact, a year later we find him in “The Unexpected” by Alberto Lattuada, and “Giorno per giorno disperatamente” by Alfredo Giannetti, in which he shows his skills as a schizophrenic. In that period Milian is called by some of the most interesting actor by directors who appreciate his talents. His filmography is enriched with titles such as “La banda Casaroli” by Florestan Vancini, Il lavoro, by Visconti an episode of the collective film “Boccaccio '70”. Here Milian gives life to the arid and mean Count Ottavio, the unfaithful husband of the beautiful Dolls (Romy Schneider). The collaboration with Francesco Maselli is raised with “Gli indifferenti” (1964) in the role of unrealistic Michele, an interpretation, which earned him the award "Cinema and Literature" in Agrigento.


MILIAN, Tomas (Tomás Quintín Rodríguez Milián)
Born: 3/3/1933, Cutono, Cuba
Died: 3/22/2017, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Tomas Milian’s westerns: - actor
The Big Gundown – 1966 (Manuel 'Cuchillo' Sanchez)
Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! - 1966 (Barney Bunton /The Stranger/Django)
Death Sentence – 1967 (O’Hara)
Face to Face – 1967 (Solomon 'Beauregard' Bennet)
The Ugly Ones – 1967 (José Gómez)
Blood and Guns – 1968 (Jesus Maria “Tepepa” Moran)
Run, Man, Run - 1968 (Manuel 'Cuchillo' Sanchez)
Compañeros! – 1970 (El Vasco)
Life Is Tough, Eh Providence? - 1972 (Provvidenza/Providence)
Sonny and Jed – 1972 (Jed Trigado)
Another Try, Eh Providence? - 1973 (Provvidenza/Providence)
Four of the Apocalypse - 1975 (Chaco)
The White, the Yellow, the Black – 1975 (Sakura)

RIP Lola Albright

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Akron native Lola Albright, glamorous Hollywood actress, dies at age 92

Akron Beacon Journal
By Mark J. Price
March 23, 2017

Akron native Lola Albright, the former West High School student and WAKR receptionist who grew up to be a glamorous star in Hollywood, died Thursday morning in Toluca Lake, Calif. She was 92.

Albright was perhaps best-known for playing nightclub singer Edie Hart opposite Craig Stevens in the NBC television show Peter Gunn, which aired from 1958 to 1961. She was nominated for an Emmy in 1959 for the role.

“She went very peacefully,” friend Eric Anderson said. “She died at 7:20 a.m. of natural causes. We loved her so much.”

Funeral arrangements were pending.

The blue-eyed blonde shared the silver screen with some of the biggest names in show business. She appeared in nearly 40 movies, including Champion (1949) with Kirk Douglas, The Good Humor Man (1950) with her future husband Jack Carson, The Tender Trap (1955) with Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds, Kid Galahad (1962) with Elvis Presley and Les Felins (1964) with Jane Fonda. She also appeared in dozens of TV shows before retiring from show business in the 1970s.

Albright, the daughter of Marion and John Paul Albright, was born July 20, 1924, and grew up on Fairfield Avenue in West Akron. She attended King Elementary School and graduated in 1942 from West High School, where her class voted her as “best looking girl.” The Rodeo yearbook described her as adorable, moody and talented.

“I have very wonderful memories of my hometown,” she told the Beacon Journal more than a decade ago in her final interview with the newspaper. As a matter of fact, I considered very seriously when my life ‘fell apart’ back in the ’70s, to come back to Akron and live. That turned out not to be a good idea. You can’t go home again.”

That was literal for Albright. The house at 552 Fairfield was demolished years ago. “My house was a great, big, really old house, and really ugly,” she said. “Interesting inside, but really ugly. I can’t really blame them for tearing it down. It was old when I lived in it. ... Helen Waterhouse, who was a reporter, bought the house I lived in after my parents and I moved away.”

Recalling King Elementary, she said: “I was very, very lucky to get to go there. They had good teachers. I went there from kindergarten on, and we had this great playground and we had great baseball teams and basketball teams. And I broke my nose playing basketball. Well, it was just a wonderful place.”

At West High School, Albright said she belonged to a group called the TADs. “It stood for ‘Tomorrow Is Another Day,’ ” she said. “Very clever, don’t you think? We hung together.”

She was surprised when the former school was converted into senior apartments on Maple Street.

“I remember somebody sending me the front page of the paper, the Beacon Journal, and there was my West High School,” she said. “It had been turned into condominiums.”

After graduation, Albright found a job as a receptionist at WAKR radio in the First National Tower in downtown Akron. She left WAKR to go to Cleveland’s WTAM, where she wed announcer Warren Dean, a marriage that ended in divorce a few years later. Moving to Chicago, she worked as a photographer’s model and was discovered by a talent scout. The next thing she knew, she was getting screen tests in Hollywood.

“That wasn’t my plan at all,” she said. “I had no plan to go into the movies whatsoever. It never entered my mind.”

At age 23, Albright won bit parts in the musicals Easter Parade (1948) with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, and The Pirate (1948) with Garland and Gene Kelly. After she appeared as Kirk Douglas’ love interest in Champion, she said she went home and cried after seeing the screening.

“I look so awful and act worse,” she complained at the time.

Audiences disagreed and Albright, who spoke in a low, sultry voice, became a hot commodity in movies and television. She always tried to maintain her privacy, though.

“I gave an interview — it was the first interview I ever gave — many, many, many, many years ago,” she told the Beacon Journal. “More than I care to think. And I rue the day because it was on the front page above the fold. I didn’t understand at the time how an interviewer could get at you. She’d be so persuasive and so sweet and so kind and make you say things you should never have said.”

The Akron actress married actor Jack Carson in 1952, but the couple divorced in 1958, the year that Peter Gunn debuted. Many people remember the TV show today for its jazzy theme song.

As a vocalist, Albright recorded the albums Lola Wants You (1957) and Dreamsville (1959) with Cleveland native Henry Mancini.

In 1961, Albright married pianist Bill Chadney, but the couple divorced in 1971.

“I had seven stepchildren,” Albright said. “I have no children of my own.”

Albright gave up acting in the late 1970s and never looked back. She remained single and enjoyed taking care of her pets. She no longer wanted to be in the public spotlight.

“I value my privacy,” she explained.

Albright fractured her spine in a fall three years ago and had been in declining health, but family friends said she was still very witty and sharp.

“What was Lola like?” actress and friend Sahar Bibiyan asked. “Feisty, very giving, generous. Full of stories. Very private. Very humble. She was one of the funniest people I ever met.”

In her final interview with the Beacon Journal, Lola Albright offered this:

“Your 40s are your best time, honestly. If I had my druthers about when to live a whole life, I would say in the 40s. Just stay there. Because you’ve learned a few things by then.”
.

ALBRIGHT, Lola (Lola Jean Albright)
Born: 7/20/1924, Akron, Ohio, U.S.A
Died: 3/23/2017, Toluca Lake, California, U.S.A.

Lola Albright’s westerns – actress:
Tulsa – 1949 (Candy Williams)
Sierra Passage – 1950 (Ann Walker)
The Silver Whip – 1953 (Waco)
Treasure of the Ruby Hill – 1955 (May)
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1955 (Lucy Hunt)
Oregon Passage – 1957 (Sylvia Dane)
Pawnee – 1957 (Meg Alden)
Seven Guns to Mesa – 1958 (Julie Westcott)
Rawhide (TV) – 1964, 1965 (Maribelle Ashton-Warner, Lottie Denton
Wagon Train (TV) – 1964 (Leonora Parkman)
Branded (TV) – 1965, 1966 (Ann Williams)
Laredo (TV) – 1966 (Lilah Evans)
Bonanza (TV) – 1965, 1967 (Ann, Dolly Bantree)
The Way West – 1967 (Rebecca ‘Becky’ Evans)
Cimarron Strip (TV) – 1967 (Stacy Houston)

RIP Tony Russel

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
March 24, 2017

TONY RUSSO Tony Russo a.k.a. Tony Russel passed away March 18, 2017, in Las Vegas. He was born Nov. 23, 1925, in Kenosha, Wis. He was a former film, stage and television actor. He was noted for having worked in the Italian film industry in the mid-60s and for his work as a voice actor where he was founder and president of English language Dubbers association (ELDA) in Italy. Tony had the privilege of turning down the lead role in "A Fistful of Dollars." He developed and interest in acting at an early age and following his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army Air Corps. He took up language, speech and drama at the University of Wisconsin. He won a best supporting actors award for the role of Eddie Fuseli in a production of "Golden Boy" at the university. With that, he asked the Government for a transfer to the Pasadena playhouse which they okayed. He graduated from the playhouse in 1952. After the playhouse, Tony got his big break when the film "War is Hell" won an award out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1961. At that time, he became a big hit in Italy. He worked in Italian adventures, crime dramas and "spaghetti westerns." After eight years in Italy, he went back to Hollywood and became part of the dinner theater circuit, working with actors like John Barrymore, Gene Raymond, Elvis Presley in "King Creole," Robert Fuller, Fabian, Richard Egan, Jackie Coogan, June Wilkenson, Virginia Mayo, Lyle Talbot, Carol Lynley and Kathryn Crosby. His last film was "Vegas Strip Wars" starring Rock Hudson in 1984. He did the Walt Disney sign of Zorro in which there was three different episodes. Tony and his wife, Renee, lived a quiet life playing golf every day and being shareholder members of Stallion Mountain and Black Mountain golf courses, up until three years ago when he took ill and had to stop playing. Among Tony's starring roles are parts of the sci-fi epics, "Wild Wild Planet" in 1965 and its sequel "War of the Planets" film concurrently in 1971. He worked as "Big Red" in the "Hard Ride" and starred in "Soul Hustler" in 1973. Tony will be missed by many. Services will be at 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, March 28, at Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 1900 Veterans Memorial Drive, in Boulder City. Everyone is welcome.


RUSSEL, Tony (Antonio Pietro Russo)
Born: 11/23/1925, Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Died: 3/18/2017, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Tony Russel’s westerns – actor:
Hiawatha - 1952
26 Men (TV) – 1957 (Black Eagle)
Zorro (TV) – 1957-1959 (Carlos Martinez, Pedro Avila
Broken Arroe (TV) – 1958 (Anaka)
Behind the Mask of Zorro – 1965 (Patricio/Alfonso/Zorro)
Last Train from Gun Hill – 1969 (Pinto)
Death Valley Days (TV) – 1969 (Mike Cassidy)
The High Chaparral (TV) – 1970 (Ricardo)
Hec Ramsey (TV) – 1973 (Gentleman Jim Sachet)
The Mystic Warrior (TV) – 1984 (Red Lake)
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