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RIP Carol Neblett

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Death of a sought-after American soprano, 71

Slipped Disc
By Norman Lebrecht
November 26, 2017

The international soprano Carol Neblett died on Thanksgiving Day.

After her City Opera debut at 23 as Musetta in La Bohème, she was a company stalwart for ten years before the Met came knocking. Carol went on to sing at all major houses, forming a notable partnership on stage and on record with Placido Domingo.

Claudio Abbado chose her for his recording of Mahler’s second symphony. Her signature role was Minnie in Puccini’s Fanciulla del West.

Born in Modesto, California, and graduating from UCLA, she returned later in life to the golden west to be artist in residence and voice teacher at California’s Chapman University.

She was married first to Kenneth Schermerhorn, music director of the Milwaukee Symphony, and secondly to a cardiologist, Phillip Akre. She had three children.

Early on, she shocked America by playing Thais in the buff, accusing agile photographers of snapping pubic hair that she kept hidden from the audience. The New York Times splashed its feature with the headline ‘What do you Say to a Naked Prima Donna?’. It’s a finely calibrated piece of writing by Steve Rubin, who was never lost for questions, and a good insight into the rise of an all-American artist. And the headline was not unwarranted: she did a topless shoot in the bath for Paul Slade and would flourish pictures of her tempestuous Thais.

Those were the 70s, a more innocent era.


NEBLETT, Carol
Born: 2/1/1946, Modesto, California, U.S.A.
Died: 11/23/2017, U.S.A.

Carol Neblett’s western – singer, actress:
La Fanciulla del West (TV) - 1977

RIP Julio Oscar Mechoso

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Julio Oscar Machoso, character actor who appeared in ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Miami Vice’, dead at 62

NY Daily News
Peter Sblendorio
November 27, 2017

Julio Oscar Mechoso, a character actor who took on dozens of dramatic and comedic roles during a lengthy career, has died from a heart attack.

He was 62.

Mechoso died Saturday, according to the Miami Herald, which was first to report the news.
The actor, who was born in Miami, notably appeared in popular series such as "Seinfeld" and "Miami Vice" after initially breaking in as an actor during his mid-20s. More recently, he earned gigs on "The Big Bang Theory,""Madam Secretary" and "Grey's Anatomy."

He also leaves a lasting impression on the film industry, as he played Zorro's guardian in "The Legend of Zorro" (2005) and appeared in "Jurassic Park III" (2001) and "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006).

Fellow actor and longtime friend Andy Garcia penned an emotional and powerful tribute to Mechoso shortly after his death.

"How can one express the extreme loss of someone so close to you, the extreme emptiness that one feels now and forever," he began in a letter shared by the Miami Herald.

"A sudden loss is always unjust, but in the case of Julio Oscar Mechoso, my friend, my soul mate it is greater than that, as I have lost the truest of friends. Julio is a unique and extraordinary artist. I say is, because his artistry will carry on and will be present in all that will witness it," he continued. "That will never die."

Mechoso's latest projects included a recurring role in the 2014 crime series "Matador," as well as a guest spot on "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series."



MECHOSO, Julio Oscar
Born: 5/31/1955, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Died: 11/25/2017, Miami, Florida, U.S.A

Julio Oscar Mechoso’s westerns – actor:
All the Pretty Horses – 2000 (Captain Raul)
The Legend of Zorro – 2005 (Frey Felipe)

RIP Ignazio Colnaghi

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Italian actor, writer and voice dubber Ignazio Colnaghi died in Milan, Italy on November 25th. He was 83. Colnaghi was born on June 16, 1924, Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Known by the stage name of Ignatius Colnigee he began his career at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan with Dario Fo and Franco Parenti, then followed them into variety shows on radio, but he preferred to devote himself early into voice dubbing. He began covering sporting events on ‘Incom Week’, which aired in cinemas before the screening of films, but is best remembered for having lent his voice to Calimero, the black chick protagonist of the lucky carousels for Mira Lanza since 1963. He has also gave his voice to another television personality, the caterpillar John Little the friend of Rat Gigio, the puppet created in 1961 by Maria Perego. As a voice dubber for film actors he lent his voice to well-known French actors such as Fernandel in his early films and Pierre Brasseur. As a film actor himself he appeared in six films for children of somewhat moderate interest, mostly for Angio Zane. On television, in addition to participating in several original dramas, he appeared in two dramas between 1963 and 1975, ‘Il mulino del Po’, directed by Sandro Bolchi and ‘Marco Visconti’ by Anton Giulio Majano.

Colnigee co-wrote with Angio Zane the screenplay of the 1964 Euro-western “Okay, Sheriff” which starred Frank Senis.


COLNAGHI, Ignazio
Born: 6/16/1924, Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Died: 11/25/2017, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Ignazio Colnaghi’s western – writer:
Okay, Sheriff - 1964

RIP Christian Heermann

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Christian Heermann has died

Karl May & Co.
11/28/2017

Distinguished Kar May researcher and author, among others of "The man who was Old Shatterhand"

The respected Karl May researcher Christian Heermann (born September, 11, 1936 in Chemnitz) died on November 27, 2017. Heermann was u.a. From 1993 to 2013 Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board Karl May House Hohenstein Ernstthal and for many years Chairman of the Karl May Circle of Friends Leipzig. Even in GDR times, he published the Karl May biography "The Man Who was Old Shatterhand", updated in 2002 under the title " Winnetous Blutsbruder" (Karl-May-Verlag). A settlement with the GDR authorities appeared in 1995 under the title "Old Shatterhand Rode Not on Behalf of the Working Class".

In KARL MAY & Co. Nr. 95, an interview with Heermann by Jenny Florstedt was published under the title "Karl May was and is a constant companion". "The May phenomenon survives through its work - despite all the weaknesses - with the big dreams. The fulfillment of these dreams despite an extremely bad starting position showed readers again and again that disadvantages of life can be compensated," said Heermann.


HEERMANN, Christian
Born: 9/11/1936, Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany
Died: 11/27/2017, Germany

Christian Heermann’s westerns – author:
The Man Who was Old Shatterhand - 1988
Winnetous Blutsbruder - 2002

RIP Anthony Harvey

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Anthony Harvey, Film Director And Editor, Dies At 87

27 East
November 28, 2017

Anthony Harvey, Film Director And Editor, Dies At 87

Anthony Harvey, an acclaimed film director and editor, died at his Water Mill home on Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23.

Born on June 3, 1930, in London, he was 87 years old. He took his last name from his stepfather, actor Morris Harvey.

Mr. Harvey’s best known turn in the director’s chair was “The Lion in Winter,” a 1968 historical drama based on a play by James Goldman starring Peter O’Toole as King Henry II and Katharine Hepburn as Queen Eleanor. The film gleaned seven Academy Award nominations, including a Best Director nod for Mr. Harvey. Ms. Hepburn tied with Barbra Streisand for Best Actress, and Mr. Harvey accepted the Oscar on her behalf in her absence.

He worked with Mr. Goldman again on “They Might Be Giants,” a 1971 film starring George C. Scott as a man in a psychiatric hospital who is convinced he is Sherlock Holmes.

He directed Ms. Hepburn again in “The Glass Menagerie,” a 1973 television adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play. The film was well received, and the Directors Guild of America nominated Mr. Harvey for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television.

Prior to his 1966 directorial debut, “Dutchman,” Mr. Harvey was better known as a film editor. His first feature film as editor was 1956’s “Private’s Progress.” He worked with Stanley Kubrick on “Dr. Strangelove.”

Among his local work was directing readings of the plays “Dorothy Parker Gets The Last Word” and “Julia Wars” at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor.

He leaves behind no family.

Final arrangements are in the care of Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton.


HARVEY, Anthony
Born:6/3/1930, London, England, U.K.
Died: 11/23/2017, Water Mill, New York U.S.A.

Anthony Harvey’s western – director:
Eagle’s Wing - 1979

RIP James Kisicki

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News Herald
December 3, 2017

James P. Kisicki, age 79, died peacefully on November 27, 2017 at Hospice of the Western Reserve. He was born on April 14, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois to the late Jeanette and Aloysius Kisicki. Jim lived in the Cleveland area since 1977 beginning his acting career as a resident member of the acting company of Cleveland Playhouse. He was an actor, voice talent, appeared in numerous radio and television commercials and movies. One of Jim's favorite movie roles was the bank manager in Shawshank Redemption. Go to IMDb.com for a complete listing of all of Jim's movies.

Jim loved reading, history, and the English language, and sharing his wealth of knowledge with family and friends. He loved acting and film and was able to enjoy a lifelong career doing what he loved whether it was on stage, behind a microphone, or on a movie set. Jim spent much of his life being a teacher and mentor to many, and took great pride fostering his students to truly love and respect the fine arts. Jim had the ability to make anyone laugh with a story or joke, and could always bring a calming presence to those in need of comfort. He stayed involved within the Chesterland community – hosting events and volunteering with the Rotary Club of Chesterland, directing with the West Geauga drama program, to serving the Lord in many ways at St. Anselm Church. Above all, Jim loved his family and would encourage everyone to live every day to the fullest.

Survivors include his beloved wife of 40 years, Deborah A. (Smith) Kisicki, devoted daughters, Katherine and Rebecca Kisicki, adorable granddaughter Matilda Jane, loving sister, Mary Kisicki, beloved aunt, Carolyn May, dear brother-in-law to Becky Smith, Jeff & Debbie Smith, Greg & Sue Smith, Kent & Stacie Smith, Susanna Smith (deceased) and caring uncle to many cherished nieces and nephews.

Mass of Christian Burial on Saturday, December 9, 2017 at 11am at Saint Anselm Catholic Church, 12969 Chillicothe Rd., Chesterland, OH 44026. (Please Meet At Church)

Family will receive friends to celebrate the life of Jim at Gattozzi and Son Funeral Home, 12524 Chillicothe Rd., Chesterland, OH 44026 on Friday, December 8, 2017 from 3 to 8pm.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in memory of Jim to Saint Anselm Church, 12969 Chillicothe Rd, Chesterland, OH 44026 or Hospice of the Western Reserve, 300 East 185th St., Cleveland, OH 44119. Online tribute video and condolences at www.gattozziandson.com


KISICKI, James J.
Born: 4/14/1938, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Died: 11/27/2017, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.

James Kisicki’s western – actor:

Centennial (TV) – 1978 (Reverend Fenstermacher)

RIP Mundell Lowe

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R.I.P. Mundell Lowe
Jazz guitarist takes last solo

Reader
December 2, 2017

Legendary jazz guitarist Mundell Lowe passed away on the morning of December 2 at the age of 95.
Lowe grew up in Mississippi and, at 17 years old in 1939, joined Pee Wee King’s western swing band, which had a regular slot on the Grand Ole Opry radio program. Producer John Hammond helped Lowe earn a spot in an orchestra fronted by Ray McKinley of the Glenn Miller band.

He moved to New Orleans and then was drafted into the Army in 1943. He reported for his work assignment at Fort McPherson, where he remembered, “This fat desk sergeant from Arkansas was interviewing me. I informed him that I was a professional working guitarist and was hoping to be assigned to the military band somewhere. Meanwhile, he’s flipping through some book and announced that there weren’t any ‘gee-tar jobs’ in the Army. I got sent to the Engineering Corps instead.”

Upon his release in 1945, Lowe headed to New York City, where he worked for NBC for around 13 years and recorded on a number of albums with over two dozen well-known jazz performers. He also performed music for TV programs such as the Today Show, the Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, and others. In addition, he played with Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, and Benny Goodman.

“I have to be somewhat careful about who I play with, because I have so many specific harmonic references, but I find if I pick the right people, I can just hear what they’re doing and everything flows.”

As for playing with the notoriously volatile bassist/bandleader Charles Mingus, “We were friends,” Lowe recalled. “I never had any problems with Charles. He was a really brilliant guy. He was like other stars I played with, Buddy Rich, or Mel Tormé, or Ray Brown. I let them do the leading, and everything flowed from there.”

In September 2008, Lowe won a lifetime achievement trophy at the San Diego Music Awards. As he approached his 90s, Lowe was living in Tierrasanta with his wife Betty, a well-regarded jazz vocalist. His 95th birthday was staged at Dizzy’s this past April, featuring appearances by Lowe with Jaime Valle, Bob Boss, Jim Plank, Rob Thorsen, and Bob Magnusson.


LOWE, Mundell
Born: 4/21/1922, Laurel, Mississippi, U.S.A.
Died: 12/2/2017, Tierrasanta, San Diego, California

Mundell Lowe’s westerns – composer, music director, conductor:
A Time for Killing – 1967 [composer]
Dundee and the Culhane (TV) – 1967 [composer]
The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1968 [composer, conductor]
The Andersonville Trial (TV) – 1970 [music director]
Billy Jack – 1971 [composer, conductor]

RIP Sandra White

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Los Angeles Times
December 3, 2017

October 5, 1930 - November 22, 2017 Sandra Jean Blum, 87, of Los Angeles, passed away on Nov. 22. Born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 5, 1930, Sandy was the only child of Abe and Gertrude Solomon. Upon graduation from Central High School in 1948, Sandy moved to California to pursue a career as a screen actress (as Sandra White). Under contract to Paramount, she performed in featured roles in such cult classics as Fritz Lang's 1956 film noir "While the City Sleeps" (as the iconic serial murder victim in the opening scene) and Frank Tashlin's 1956 rock and roll musical "The Girl Can't Help It" (as the cigarette girl who leaps into a spontaneous dance number with Tom Ewell), Wilbur's wife, Carlotta, in the original pilot for "Mr. Ed," as well as guest parts in diverse television series, including "77 Sunset Strip,""Johnny Ringo,""The Detectives,""Hennesey,""Arrest and Trial,""Michael Shayne," and "Father Knows Best." Sandy retired from acting in 1961 when she married David Blum and became stepmother to his daughters, Bonnie (Blum) Burman and Virginia Blum, who grew up adoring her. Although Sandy and David divorced in 1978, she remained a devoted second mother to Bonnie and Virginia, mother-in-law to Bonnie's husband, Terry Burman, and grandmother ("Nanny Sandy") to Virginia's son, Alex, for the rest of her life. She was "Auntie Sandy" to Lincoln and Lara. Sandy was the glowing center of an extended family that includes not only her friends but also their children and children's children. Through the various transitions of divorce and remarriage characterizing so many families today, Sandy, with her unwavering commitment to those she loved, managed to sustain relationships across the fault lines. Irresistibly charming as she was, even David's forbidding ex-mother-in-law ultimately counted Sandy among her close friends. Sandy volunteered at Cedar Sinai's emergency room for 18 years where she brought comfort to hundreds of patients. With her unaffected luminous beauty, effusive warmth, and irrepressible sense of humor, Sandy had a unique talent for bringing people together. She was a superb hostess who celebrated her friends and family through countless luncheons and dinner parties, replete with great food and stimulating conversation. Always deeply engaged by current social and political events, Sandy relished a good debate. She was an avid reader with an encyclopedic knowledge of film and film history. To the end of her life, she could recount in vivid detail the last days of the studio era of which she was a part. Her many friends and family are deeply grateful for the vitality, generosity and unconditional love that she contributed to our lives. Every day of her life, Sandy made her loved ones feel cherished. We will miss her sorely. There will be a private interment. A memorial service in her honor will be held at a later date. Donations in memory of Sandy may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: (https://www.stjude.org/give.html), the Motion Picture Retirement Home (https://www.mptf.com/ways-to-give) or a charity of your choice.


WHITE, Sandra (Sandra Jean Blum)
Born: 10/5/1930, Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A.
Died: 11/22/2017, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Sandra White’s western – actress:
Johnny Ringo (TV) – 1960 (redhead)

RIP Ulli Lommel

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Rest in Peace: Director Ulli Lommel

Dread Central
By Steve Barton
December 3, 2017

Sad news for you this Sunday afternoon as multiple sources web-wide are confirming that prolific film director Ulli Lommel has passed away at age 72 due to heart failure.

Lommel has dozens of film credits under his belt but will no doubt be best remembered by fans for his wonderfully obscure 1980 film The Boogey Man. Ulli worked just about up to the day he passed and leaves behind a myriad of projects for interested fans to look into.

We here at Dread Central would like to offer our sincerest of condolences to Lommel’s friends, family members, and constituents. Rest in peace, good sir; and thank you for the memories.


LOMMEL, Ulli (Ulrich Manfred Lommel)
Born: 12/21/1944, Zielenzig, Brandenburg, Germany
Died: 12/1/2017

Ulli Lommel’s westerns – producer, actor, voice dubber:
Flaming Frontier – 1963 [German voice of Predrag Ceramilac]
Whity – 1971 (Frank Nicholson) [producer]

RIP Johnny Hallyday

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Johnny Hallyday, Gallic rocker worshiped as the ‘French Elvis,’ dies at 74

Los Angeles Times
December 6, 2017

Johnny Hallyday, the French rock legend who came to fame in the early 1960s with cover versions of American rock ’n’ roll hits and continued to sell out concerts in France for decades, has died at his home outside Paris. He was 74.

Hallyday, who often was called “the French Elvis,” died Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a statement. Fans — many in tears or carrying flowers — gathered outside his home to honor the rocker.

Macron said Hallyday “brought a part of America into our national pantheon.” Hallyday, he said, seemed nearly invincible and long ago had been christened a “French hero.”

Although many Americans had never heard of Hallyday, he was considered a godlike figure in France, where a survey once indicated he could likely get enough votes to be elected president.
“Hearing about Johnny's death has hurt us because Johnny is our god and nobody can replace him,” one fan, Yves Buisson, told the Associated Press outside the Hallyday family’s gated home in Marnes-La-Coquette. His arms were covered with tattoos of the star.

In 1997, French President Jacques Chirac presented Hallyday with the Legion of Honor.
The Elvis-inspired rocker scored early hits with French cover versions of U.S. records such as “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” and “Long Tall Sally.”
His 1961 version of Chubby Checker’s “Let’s Twist Again” sold 1 million copies, and his early appearances in France caused riots.

“Johnny Hallyday introduced American rock ’n’ roll to a vast French-speaking audience around the world,” Howard Kramer, curatorial director at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, told The Times.

“He had a great reputation as a live performer, and he made records that were massively popular. He never really broke out of Europe, but his success was so massive he didn’t really need to.”
Over the decades, Hallyday reportedly sold more than 100 million records and performed before more than 15 million people in concert. In 1966, he selected Jimi Hendrix as an opening act and used eventual Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page in the recording studio as a session guitarist.

“Johnny is our god. We live and breathe him,” a man in his 60s told the Times of London in 2009 when Hallyday launched a six-month sold-out farewell concert series, “Tour 66 — I’m Stopping Here.”

Hallyday, who in recent years had split his time between Paris and Los Angeles, said at the time that he planned to continue recording occasionally. But he said decades on the road had worn him down. He had lung cancer and had repeated health scares over the years, including undergoing back surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“I have had enough playing Johnny Hallyday,” the Times of London reported him as saying a week before the 2009 tour. “I want more and more to be Jean-Philippe Smet.”

The son of a Belgian father and a French mother, he was born Jean-Philippe Smet in Paris on June 15, 1943.

His vagabond father, who performed in cabarets and theaters, soon left, and his mother became a model to earn money.

Hallyday was raised by his paternal aunt, who had acted in silent films and had two daughters who became dancers. As a child, he lived with his aunt and cousins in London for several years and traveled with them when they performed in Belgium, Germany and Portugal before returning to Paris.

He also made his film debut as a child — an uncredited walk-on in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 thriller “Diabolique.”

As a teenager, Hallyday idolized Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean, and his favorite movies were “East of Eden,” “On the Waterfront” and “The Wild One.”

“I adored all that period in the history of cinema — everything that spilled forth from the Actors Studio,” he told Fort Lauderdale’s Sun-Sentinel in 2003. “I actually wanted to be an actor before I became a singer. But when I was 12, I discovered rock ’n’ roll through Elvis Presley.”

At 17, he recalled, “I was playing a ballroom gig one Sunday to get some money to pay for my acting classes when a producer heard me and asked me to do a record. I did it, and it all just happened from there.”

Hallyday began appearing in French movies after he gained rock ’n’ roll fame, but he primarily played singers.

“It wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he told the New York Times in 2003. “I wanted to separate the singer from the actor. So I stopped for several years and then started to work again with [directors] Costa-Gavras, Jean-Luc Godard — roles where I wasn’t a singer at all.”

Hallyday received critical acclaim for his role as a bank robber in director Patrice Leconte’s “Man on the Train.”

“He’s the equivalent of Joan of Arc in France,” late actor Jean Rochefort, who co-starred in the film, once told the New York Times. “For me, he isn’t really an actor but a man who has a presence, an undeniable charisma.”

Hallyday, who had several marriages, including to French singing star Sylvie Vartan, is survived by his wife, Laeticia; and four children, Jade, Joy, Laura Smet and Dave.

HALLYDAY, Johnny (Jean-Philippe Leo Smet)
Born: 6/15/1943, Malesherbes, Paris, Île-de-France, France
Died: 12/6/2017, Paris, Île-de-France, France

Johnny Hallyday’s western- actor:
Drop Them or I’ll Shoot – 1969 (Hud)

RIP Angelo P. Graham

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Oscar-winning art director and production designer Angelo P. Graham,
whose credits include THE GODFATHER PART II, BEVERLY HILLS COP and MRS.
DOUBTFIRE, died a month ago today; he was either 69 or 70. Media outlets
have yet to report his death, but he is listed on the Academy of Motion
Pictures Arts and Sciences' Memoriam page
(http://www.oscars.org/about/memoriam), and a search for Graham at the
organization's Academy Awards Database
(http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/) reveals he passed away on Nov. 7,
2017. Neither his age nor his birthdate are given by the database, but
his entry in Michael L. Stephens' book ART DIRECTORS IN CINEMA gives his
birth year as 1947.

Working alongside production designer Dean Tavoularis and set decorator
George Nelson, Graham provided the art direction for classic '70s films
such as LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) and THE GODFATHER PART II (1974), the
latter of which won the trio an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set
Decoration. The team collaborated with GODFATHER director Francis Ford
Coppola on several more films, most notably APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), for
which they received another Oscar nomination. The team was also
nominated for an Oscar for their work on William Friedkin's THE BRINK'S
JOB (1978) and later worked together on the 1982 films HAMMETT and THE
ESCAPE ARTIST, both of which were executive produced by Coppola.

Graham and Nelson also worked on a several films together without
Tavoularis, including Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY (1972), Norman
Jewison's F.I.S.T. (1978) and Matthew Robbins' *BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED
(1987). Meanwhile, Graham and Tavoularis collaborated without Nelson on
multiple films, most notably Coppola's ONE FROM THE HEART (1981) and
Philip Kaufman's RISING SUN (1993).

Graham's first film as production designer was John Badham's WARGAMES
(1983), and the effort garnered him a BAFTA Film nomination for Best
Production Design/Art Direction. His next assignment was designing Barry
Levinson's baseball drama THE NATURAL (1984); this film earned Graham
his fourth and final Oscar nomination, which he shared with co-
production designer Mel Bourne and set decorator Bruce Weintraub.

Subsequently, Graham created the production designs for three acclaimed
hit films directed by Martin Brest: BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984), MIDNIGHT
RUN (1988) and the Oscar-winning SCENT OF A WOMAN (1992). He was also
the production designer of Chris Columbus' comedies MRS. DOUBTFIRE
(1993) and NINE MONTHS (1995), both of which feature the late Robin
Williams. Graham worked with Williams one last time as the art director
of Francis Ford Coppola's JACK (1996), which also marked Graham's final
collaboration with both Coppola and Dean Tavoularis. Graham's final
screen credit was as an art director on Robert Redford's THE LEGEND OF
BAGGER VANCE (2000).


GRAHAM, Angelo P.
Born: 1947
Died: 11/7/2017

Angelo P. Graham’s westerns – art director, set decorator:
Little Big Man – 1970 (Art Director)
Junior Bonner – 1972 (Set Decorator)
Where Legends Die – 1972 (Art Director)

RIP Steve Reevis

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Actor Steve Reevis dies

ABC Fox Montana
By Rachel Crowspreadingwings
December 7, 2017

According to Lockley Joe Bremner, News Contributor to the Pikanni Press & Newsfeed in Browning, Reevis passed away December 7, 2017, at a hospital in Missoula. Steve Reevis was an actor and a member of the Blackfeet Nation in Browning Montana.

Imdb.com lists his first film as Twins in 1988. After that, he made over 35 film and television appearances. Most notably, "The Last of the Dogmen,""Dances With Wolves,""Fargo,""Into The West,"  " Bones," and "Walker, Texas Ranger."

First Americans in the Arts (FAITA) awarded Reevis for his supporting roles in both "Fargo" and in the made-for-television movie "Crazy Horse" in 1996.

At the time of his death, he lived in Morongo Valley, California with his wife and children. He was 55.  The cause of his death hasn't been released yet.


REEVIS, Steve
Born: 8/4/1962, Browning, Montana, U.S.A.
Died: 12/7/2017, Missoula, Montana, U.S.A.

Steve Reevis’ westerns – actor:
Dances With Wolves – 1990 (Sioux Warrior)
Grim Prairie Tales – 1990 (Indian Child)
Miracle in the Wilderness (TV) – 1991 (Grey Eyes)
Lakota Moon (TV) – 1992 (Two Hearts)
Geronimo: An American Legend – 1993 (Chato)
Last of the Dogmen – 1993 (Yellow Wolf)
Posse – 1993 (Two Bears)
Wild Bill – 1995 (Sioux Chief)
Crazy Horse (TV) – 1996
Walker, Texas Ranger – 1997, 1999 (John Wolf, Lone Wolf, Jake Stonecrow)
Horse Sense – 1999 (Mule)
The Outfitters – 199 (Sam Keno)
The Missing – 2003 (Two Stone)
Into the West (TV) - 2005 (Older Loved By The Buffalo)
Comanche Moon – 2008 (Worm)
The Cherokee Word for Water – 2013 (Johnson Soap)
The Road to Paloma – 2014 (Totonka)

RIP Juan Luis Buñuel

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Juan Luis Buñuel dies at 87.

December 8, 2017

The eldest son of Juan Luis Bunuel has died in Paris, the city where he was born in 1934.

Juan Luis Buñuel visited Aragón frequently and also Calanda, town in which he got to shoot some works.They were two.The first, in 1966 and was called 'Calanda' and the second, in 2007 with the name of 'Calanda.40 years later . 'Juan Luis, who in addition to film worked photography and sculpture, among other arts, took that year in his visit to the town a very special and very personal exhibition of photographs.
 
The CBC showed 98 images of the shootings in which he collaborated as a director, or as an assistant director, but also images of his own life, with his family and with his father Luis Buñuel.Also social and family prints.
 
In those days, the second part of that first documentary of 1966 was filmed. For the filmmaker, the life of this town, after 40 years, had changed considerably from "being a village in an agricultural Spain to a locality in Europe. 21st century,"he said then.
 
In his career he was the assistant director of Orson Welles and his own father.His are the productions' Quote with the happy death ', the woman with the red boots',' Leonor 'or' The chess player '.
He also starred with Jean-Claude Carriere in 'The Last Screenplay.Buñuel en la memoria', directed by Gaizka Urresti and Javier Espada.
 

BUNUEL, Juan Luis
Born:11/9/1934, Paris, Île-de-France, France
Died: 12/7/2017, Paris, Île-de-France, France

Juan Luis Buñuel’s westerns – assistant director, director:
Viva Maria! – 1965 [assistant director]
Guns for San Sebastian – 1968 [assistant director]
The Rebellion of the Hanged - 1986 [director]

RIP Leonid Bronevoi

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Respected Soviet and Russian actor Leonid Bronevoi has died in Moscow at the age of 88.

Radio Free Europe
December 9, 2017

The director of Moscow's Lenkom Theater, Mark Varshaver, made the announcement, saying Bronevoi died early on December 9 after a long illness.

Bronevoi appeared in many Soviet films, most famously in the World War II spy thriller Seventeen Moments Of Spring. He never played in a leading role, but was renowned as a talented supporting actor.

He also was a prominent figure in Soviet and Russian theater.

Bronevoi was the recipient of numerous professional and state honors, including the honorary title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union.

Varshaver said a memorial service for the actor would be held at the theater on December 11.


BRONEVOY, Leonid (Leonid Solomonvitch Bronevoy)
Born: 12/17/1928, Kiev, Ukraine, U.S.S.R.
Died: 12/9/2017, Moscow, Russia

Leonid Bronevoy’s western – actor.

Armed and Dangerous: Times and Heroes of Bret Harte – 1977 (Piter Damfi)

RIP Titus Napoleon

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Forest Lawn

Known for his beautiful voice and immense talent, Titus Napoleon was a pioneer in the Hawaiian music industry. Starting as a teenager in the late 1950's with his family's group The Royal Napoleon's, Titus became a go-to expert for Hawaiian music, performing across the US, entertaining hundreds of thousands. Titus' gifts were not limited to music. He was also an actor with a long list of appearances in both TV and film. He was a mentor to many and is credited with helping start the careers of several well-known Polynesian talents of today.

Titus was a gentle giant of a man with a heart to match. Always smiling, he greeted you warmly and all who met him felt his Aloha Spirit. His charisma and stage presence were magnetic. Though extremely well known and revered, he always remained humble and willing to share his talents no matter where the stage.

Titus was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He loved his Father in Heaven and instilled a love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his family.

Ohana was everything to Titus and his greatest joys were his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his eldest daughter Kim (Herbert) and is survived by his children: Keri, Analei (Blair), Maile (Toa) Nihi (Rachael) and Noa (Jeannie) as well as 20 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

He will be forever missed.


Napoleon, Titus(Titus Keali'iho'olula'auopuowaina Nihi Napoleon II)
Born: 6/20/1941, San Bernardino, California, U.S.A.
Died: 10/25/2017, Westminster, California, U.S.A.

Titus Napoleon’s western actor:
Hearts of the West – 1975 (native drummer)

RIP Carol Vogel

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Joshua Tree woman found dead was prolific TV actress

Hi-Desert Star
By Stacy Moore, Hi-Desert Star
Thursday, November 30, 2017

FLAMINGO HEIGHTS — Carol Vogel, 75, who once acted in TV series such as “Wonder Woman” and “CHiPs” was found dead in a dirt field behind a house on Luna Vista Lane Saturday.

Vogel’s family reported her missing at 12:08 p.m. Nov. 22, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman said. Family members told a deputy that Vogel left her Joshua Tree home in her black truck and needed to take medication. An off-road rider spotted Vogel’s truck disabled in a field about 100 yards north of the 57000 block of Luna Vista Lane Saturday. The resident of a nearby home called the Sheriff’s Department at 12:23 p.m. Saturday and said the truck, which she could barely see from her house, was still there, and a deputy responded.

Vogel’s body was found around 50-100 yards away from the truck, according to the Sheriff’s Department. “There were no obvious signs of trauma or foul play,” Bachman said. “The coroner responded and took possession of the body and they’ll have to conduct an autopsy.” Homicide investigators were not called to the scene. Bachman said the investigation is being handled by the Morongo Basin sheriff’s station. An autopsy will probably be conducted next week, according to the coroner’s office.

Vogel’s first credited film appearances were in two unrated films: “Depraved!” in 1967 and “The Ghastly Ones” in 1968. She went on to appear in episodes of some of the most famous TV series of the 1970s and ’80s, including “Gunsmoke,” “The Rockford Files,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Serpico,” “Barnaby Jones,” “CHiPs,” “Wonder Woman,” “How the West was Won,” “Hotel,” “Highway to Heaven,” “Newhart” and “Starman,” according to the Internet Movie Database. She also acted in TV movies, including “Homeward Bound” in 1980.

On June 19, 2012, Vogel found her good friend and fellow actor Richard Lynch dead in his Yucca Valley home.


VOGEL, Carol (Carol Ann Vogel)
Born: 3/8/1942, U.S.A.
Died: 11/22/2107, Joshua Tree, California, U.S.A.

Carol Vogel’s westerns – actress:
Bonanza (TV) – 1972 (Amy)
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1975 (Rachel)
How The West Was Won (TV) – 1979 (Chastity)

RIP Robert Givens

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News From Me
Mark Evanier
December 15, 2017

Bob Givens got out of high school in 1936. In 1937, he went to work for the Walt Disney Studio, mostly as animation checker on Donald Duck cartoons and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 1940, he moved over to the Warner Brothers cartoon studio where one of his first jobs was doing the redesign of a rabbit character who would henceforth by known as Bugs Bunny.

In 1942, he was drafted into the army and spent most of his tour of duty working on military training films with animation director Rudolph Ising. After the war, he returned to Warner Brothers working for all their directors but mainly as a layour artist for Robert McKimson and Chuck Jones. He also began moonlighting for Western Publishing, drawing for their childrens books and comic book line.

In the decades that followed, he worked on and off for Warners but could occasionally be found at the U.P.A. studio, Jack Kinney's studio, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng, Filmation, Film Roman and maybe a few other places. He more or less retired from working in animation around the start of the twenty-first century but taught well into his nineties. As you can see, he had what may well be the most impressive résumé in the history of the cartoon business.

Robert Givens died yesterday less than three months before he would have celebrated his hundredth birthday. We lost not only an important figure in the world of animation but a much-loved, unanimously-respected man who was always willing to talk to anyone about his work and to encourage others.

I was honored to talk with him now and then when he worked on Garfield and Friends, and to be invited to participate in a gang interview of him on the Disney lot last April. He was an amazing man.


GIVENS, Robert
Born: 3/2/1918, Alhambra, California, U.S.A.
Died: 12/14/2017, Burbank, California, U.S.A.

Robert Givens westerns – layout, background artist:
Quick Draw McGraw (TV) 1959-1962 (layout, background artist)
Fistic Mystic – 1969 (layout artist)
Injun Trouble – 1969 (layout artist)
Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa (TV) 1992–1994 (layout artist)

RIP Bruce Gray

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Canadian ‘traders’ actor Bruce Gray dies at 81 in Los Angeles

The National Post
By Victoria Ahearn
December 15, 2017

Canadian actor Bruce Gray, who was a prolific presence on the stage and screen with roles including an investment banker on the series “Traders” and the hapless father of the groom in the film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” has died.

Mike Pashak, Gray’s good friend of nearly a decade, said the actor died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81.

Gray had brain cancer that had metastasized throughout his body. He was in hospice care for about two weeks before his death, Pashak said Friday.

He was “generous, a mentor, witty, compassionate,” Pashak said from Gray’s home in Los Angeles.
“He volunteered as a director at the local Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. They weren’t paying him a lot but he would donate the money back so that the artistic director and some of the stage crew would get a little more income.

“He volunteered at a local public school, Grades 3 and 4, and helped them to put on little plays throughout the year.”

Gray’s giving nature left a deep impression on many in the industry.

“He was artistically accomplished and just brimming with kindness and generosity,” actor Allan Wasserman, Gray’s friend of 40 years, said from Altadena, Calif.

“He was a great mentor to many people and a great friend and the most ultimately supportive person to fellow actors.”

Gray was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Canadian parents, who had relocated south to work in the insurance industry there. His parents decided to move back to Toronto when Gray was 13.
He graduated from the University of Toronto with a master’s degree in psychology before getting into modelling and acting.

Gray moved to Hollywood in 1980 and racked up credits in a wide variety of genres, including lead roles on the Canadian series “High Hopes” and “Traders,” which earned him a Gemini Award for best actor.

He also had parts on numerous American shows, including “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Chicago Hope,” “Murphy Brown,” “Melrose Place,” “ER” and “Picket Fences.” On “Murder, She Wrote,” he played Ted Hartley, Jessica’s publisher, and on “Queer As Folk,” he played gay millionaire George Schickel.
In the film world, Gray played a lead role opposite Carol Burnett in “Between Friends.” His other film credits included “For the Boys,” “The Peacemaker” and “Spy Hard.”

Earlier this year, Gray was seen at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Canadian film “Don’t Talk to Irene.” He played a reluctant nursing home resident who joins a seniors’ cheerleading troupe led by a plucky teen.

“The greatest thing about Bruce is he will do absolutely anything as an actor that you ask him to,” said Pat Mills, writer-director of “Don’t Talk to Irene.”

“We dressed him up in cheerleading outfits and got him to dance to ’80s music and he was totally game the entire time.”

Alyson Richards, producer of “Don’t Talk to Irene,” said Gray didn’t take anything for granted.
“He was just so happy to act and to be there every day on set and brought such a great sense of energy to everybody,” said Richards.

“To every member of the cast and crew he gave time and gave an incredible performance.”
Pashak said Gray’s wishes were to be cremated and have a “memorial party” at his house instead of a service at a funeral home.

Gray is survived by his sister Judy Elson, nephew Randy Elson, and niece Wendy Anderson.


GRAY, Bruce
Born: 9/7/1936, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Died: 12/13/2017,Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Bruce Gray’s westerns – actor:
The Campbells (TV) – 1990 (Henry Payne)
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (TV) – 1994 (court-martial panel member)
Legen – 1995 (Rudolph Kendall)

RIP Vanessa Greene

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Variety
By Kirsten Chuba
December 20, 2017

Vanessa Greene, a veteran producer of TV movies, died on Dec. 13 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. after a 13-year battle with breast cancer. She was 63.
She began her career in the 1980s, producing films for the small screen including “Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home,” “Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case,” and “Under the Influence,” which starred Andy Griffith and Keanu Reeves. That 1984 film earned her a Scott Newman Center Drug Awareness award for its portrayal of substance abuse.
In the 1990s, Greene worked for USA Network and for CBS and specialized in reining in over-budget productions. She was also a senior executive president at CBS during this time, and continued to produce movies and mini-series while consulting on creative, legal and production problems.

Greene occasionally wrote as well, and is credited with writing an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in 1990. For her final project, she wrote, directed and produced “Stella: Searching for a Place to Be,” which follows veterans with post-traumatic stress living off the grid. The film was shot in summer 2016, and it, along with an accompanying documentary, has not yet been released.

Born just outside of London, she moved to the U.S. with her husband, director David Greene, in the 1970s. The two later divorced, and she would frequently travel between the U.S. and England.

Greene is survived by her son, Linsel Greene, her sister Rhona Linsell and stepchildren Laurence Donohue-Greene and Nic Greene.


GREENE, Vanessa
Born: 9/156/1954, London, England, U.K.
Died: 12/13/2017, Rancho Mirage, California, U.S.A.

Vanessa Greene’s western – producer:
Stolen Women, Captured Hearts (TV) - 1997

RIP Clifford Irving

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Clifford Irving, Author of a Notorious Literary Hoax, Dies at 87

The New York Times
By William Grimes
December 20, 2017

Clifford Irving, who perpetrated one of the biggest literary hoaxes of the 20th century in the early 1970s when he concocted a supposedly authorized autobiography of the billionaire Howard Hughes based on meetings and interviews that never took place, died on Tuesday at a hospice facility near his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 87.

His wife, Julie Irving, confirmed the death. She said he was admitted to the hospice over the weekend after receiving a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer about a week ago.

Mr. Irving hit on the idea for “The Autobiography of Howard Hughes” after reading “The Case of the Invisible Billionaire,” an article about him published in the December 1970 issue of Newsweek.

Hughes, a notorious eccentric and recluse who had not spoken to the press since 1958, had just quit Las Vegas to take up residence on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Mr. Irving, a modestly successful novelist and nonfiction writer, was intrigued.

He had recently published an as-told-to memoir, “Fake!: The Story of Elmyr de Hory, the Greatest Art Forger of Our Time.” Perhaps inspired by his subject, he came up with a wild scheme. 

He convinced editors at McGraw-Hill, his publisher, that Hughes had contacted him to express admiration for “Fake!” and proposed collaborating on a similar project.

After studying a Hughes letter reproduced in the Newsweek article, Mr. Irving forged letters from Hughes to back up the story. He began calling his publisher from exotic locations where, he claimed, he was meeting with Hughes and developing a close relationship. He was betting that Hughes hated the limelight so much that he would never step forward to debunk anything written about him.
Mr. Irving succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. McGraw-Hill paid an advance of $750,000 for the book. Life magazine bought the serial rights for $250,000, and Dell obtained the paperback rights for $400,000.

Over the ensuing months, as publication neared, Mr. Irving bluffed his way past editors, lawyers, handwriting experts and even skeptical journalists who had interviewed Hughes in the past. The CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace grilled Mr. Irving on “60 Minutes” and came away convinced.
At the end of 1971, with McGraw-Hill and Life ready to go to press, the scheme began to unravel. Mr. Hughes went public and denied knowing Mr. Irving, first through a representative and later in a conference call with seven journalists based in Los Angeles.

Swiss banking investigators soon discovered that a Zurich bank account belonging to “H. R. Hughes” had been opened by Mr. Irving’s wife, Edith Irving, a German-born Swiss citizen, using a forged passport with the name Helga R. Hughes.

As the evidence piled up, the house of cards collapsed. In March 1972, the Irvings pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court. In state court, along with Mr. Irving’s research assistant, Richard Suskind, they pleaded guilty to conspiracy and grand larceny. Mr. Irving was given a prison sentence of two and a half years and served 17 months. Mr. Suskind received a sentence of six months, of which he served five.

Mrs. Irving served only two months of a two-year sentence, the remainder having been suspended. But immediately after being released from Nassau County Jail, she returned to Switzerland, where she served 16 months of a two-year sentence for larceny and forgery.

With Mr. Suskind, Mr. Irving recounted the debacle in “Clifford Irving: What Really Happened,” published by Grove Press in 1972. (It was reissued in 1981 as “The Hoax.”)

“I had never realized I was committing a crime — I had thought of it as a hoax,” Mr. Irving wrote in the book.

Money, he insisted, was not the motive.

“The whole Hughes affair had been a venture into the unknown, a testing of myself, a constant gauntlet of challenge and response,” he wrote.

Clifford Michael Irving was born in Manhattan on Nov. 5, 1930, to Jay and Dorothy Irving. His father, who had changed his name from Irving Joel Raefsky, was a cartoonist and illustrator who did covers for Collier’s magazine and drew a syndicated strip, Pottsy, about an amiable New York policeman.

He graduated from the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan in 1947 and from Cornell University, which he had entered at 16, in 1951 with a degree in English. Smitten with Ernest Hemingway as a writer and role model, he traveled widely and worked at an odd assortment of jobs. At various times he was a copy boy at The New York Times, a Fuller Brush salesman in Syracuse and a machinist’s assistant in Detroit.

Mr. Irving went to the Spanish island of Ibiza in 1953 and became, in time, a permanent resident. There he finished his first novel, “On a Darkling Plain,” a coming-of-age story with a questing, alienated protagonist much like the author.

He went on to try his hand at a psychological thriller, “The Losers” (1958), and a period drama, “The Valley” (1960), set in 19th-century New Mexico. He hatched the Hughes hoax after taking up residence on Ibiza.

After serving his prison sentence, Mr. Irving wrote several novels with a legal setting, as well as true-crime books, including “Daddy’s Girl: The Campbell Murder Case” (1988), “Trial” (1990) and “Final Argument” (1993).

Orson Welles drew on “Fake!” and on the Hughes hoax when making his 1974 film, “F for Fake,” in which Mr. Irving plays a prominent role. The Danish director Lasse Hallstrom dramatized the affair in “The Hoax” (2006), with Richard Gere as Mr. Irving.

In 2012, the fake Hughes autobiography was published under the title “Clifford Irving’s Autobiography of Howard Hughes” as an e-book. (The cover proclaimed, “Until now, the most famous unpublished book of the 20th century.”) He also published “Jailing: The Prison Memoirs of 0040, a k a Clifford Irving” as an e-book.

Mr. Irving was married six times. He married Julie Schall in 1998. Besides her, he is survived by three sons, Josh, Ned and Barnaby; and one grandson.

Mr. Irving offered different explanations for the Hughes affair at different times. In his later years, he dismissed it as nothing more than a joke.

But in certain moods, he looked on the episode with something like awe. It had to be admitted, he wrote in “What Really Happened,” that “a certain grandeur had rooted itself into the scheme, and I could still spy a reckless and artistic splendor to the way we had carried it out.”


IRVING, Clifford(Clifford Michael Irving)
Born: 11/5/1930, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 12/19/2017, Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.

Clifford Irving’s western – writer:
Bonanza (TV) - 1962
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