DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Bushman]

Very sad to see him go. I was first introduced to Hurt as a child through the first Harry Potter movie. He quickly became one the most recognizable actors for me since.

 

[Doctor Strange]

One of my favorite John Hurt roles is the titular Storyteller in Jim Henson's The Storyteller from the late eighties.

This seven-episode TV series ran a number of ways: I first saw it as segments of The Jim Henson Hour. If you have never seen these gorgeously produced - within the limitations of TV budgets and technology of the time - half-hours based on lesser-known European folktales and fairy tales, do yourself a favor and watch the first one. It also happens to be one of the best, not that any are bad (*):

As clever as Anthony Minghella's scripts are, as lovely as Rachel Portman's scores are, as innovative as the scene transitions are, as wonderful as all the Henson puppets/performances are... the series wouldn't have worked at all without Hurt's warm, hyper-verbal performance!

(* A later version of the series, The Storyteller: Greek Myths, ran on HBO, with Michael Gambon assuming the role of the Storyteller. There was a distinct drop in quality, with only two of the four episodes being really satisfying adaptations of the myths. Not only are the stories of the myths themselves too familiar to include the continual dramatic surprises of the first series, but Gambon, as fine an actor as he is, simply doesn't project the level of warmth and delight in telling that Hurt did.)

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Did anyone check his room for a dead face-hugger?

 

[Worf]

Did anyone check his room for a dead face-hugger?

Too soon man... too soon.

Worf

 

[Otter]

He was in so many films, even Spaceballs where he did a cameo of his Alien character.

 

[MisterCairo]

Dammit, dammit, dammit....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/john-hurt-actor-1.3956571

 

[Frunobulax]

Did anyone check his room for a dead face-hugger?

Or Christopher Eccleston?


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Emmanuelle Riva, French actress & poet, died on the 27th from cancer aged 89.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Geoff Nicholls, British musician best known for his stint as keyboardist in the group 'Black Sabbath ' died yesterday (28th) of lung cancer, aged 68.

 

[MisterCairo]

Very sad to see him go. I was first introduced to Hurt as a child through the first Harry Potter movie. He quickly became one the most recognizable actors for me since.

I should include this in the "you know you're getting old when..." thread! I first saw him as a teen - in Alien!

 

[Doctor Strange]

Yeah, and I first saw him in A Man For All Seasons in 1966! I was two years out of college by the time Alien came out.

 

[GHT]

We have a gruelling horse race in the UK called The Grand National, it's over the highest fences and hurdles that you have ever seen. A jockey, name of Bob Champion, was determined to enter this race, problem was, Bob had testicular cancer. Against all the odds, Bob fought the disease, recovered from it, entered The Grand National and won it. John Hurt did an admirable job of portraying Bob's remarkable achievement.

 

[Kirk H.]

Barbara Hale, best remembered for her role as Della Street on Perry Mason passed away at 94.

 

[LizzieMaine]

David Shepard, a towering figure in the world of film preservation, has died at the age of 76. No other person in the last fifty years did more, not just to ensure the physical survival of American silent films, but to encourage access to those films. If you've ever bought a silent film on videotape, DVD, or Blu-Ray, or watched one theatrically, it's most likely that David Shephard had something to do with it. His restoration of Chaplin's Mutual shorts alone qualifies as one of the most important and most successful efforts ever undertaken in the field, but that was just one of many, many equally impressive accomplishments.

 

[Doctor Strange]

That's brutal. My oldest film collecting buddy (a much more serious collector than I am - for many years, he held the title Keeper of the Celluloid for the New York Tent of the Sons of the Desert, the international Laurel & Hardy fan society) knew him personally. I'll have to call him.

And you're right about his work on the Chaplin Mutuals, and also that that's merely the tip of the iceberg for the outstanding restoration and historical work he did for decades. I recently got the complete Keaton shorts DVD collection he worked on a few years ago, and the image quality - compared to the Super 8 and 16mm film prints I have from the 70s/80s - is astonishingly improved. He was a superhero to silent film fans!

 

[Frunobulax]

"The World's Foremost Authority" has passed at 102.

 

[Zombie_61]

Richard Hatch, the star of the original Battlestar Galactica, has passed away age 71. The actor died on Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his manager confirmed to Variety.

"The World's Foremost Authority" has passed at 102.

I always liked "Professor" Irwin Corey. To be honest, I thought he had passed years ago. 102 is a pretty good run.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Corey's whole life was an extended performance-art routine. Much of his "life story" as noted on internet biographies is actually derived from his own jokes, taken at face value by writers who didn't get him or the times he lived in. Contrary to Wikipedia, for example, he wasn't fired from the cast of "Pins and Needles" for being a union organizer, but that's a very funny, very Corey kind of line.

 

[Frunobulax]

Richard Hatch, the star of the original Battlestar Galactica, has passed away age 71. The actor died on Tuesday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his manager confirmed to Variety.

I always liked "Professor" Irwin Corey. To be honest, I thought he had passed years ago. 102 is a pretty good run.

The only reason I was aware he was still with us was because, for some reason, I've been periodically keeping tabs on him over the past ten years or so. But yeah, 102 and apparently with your faculties intact, is a good trip around the block

Corey's whole life was an extended performance-art routine. Much of his "life story" as noted on internet biographies is actually derived from his own jokes, taken at face value by writers who didn't get him or the times he lived in. Contrary to Wikipedia, for example, he wasn't fired from the cast of "Pins and Needles" for being a union organizer, but that's a very funny, very Corey kind of line.

His absurdist humor likely had a profound effect on my own sense of humor. Growing up seeing him on "The Smothers Brothers," Mike Douglas, Johnny Carson, etc. It was always a treat to tune in and see he was going to be a guest.

Interviewer: "Professor, what do you think of the hippies?"
Corey: "Oh, the hippies! We need the hippies!"
Interviewer: "Why?"
Corey: "Without the hippies, our pants would fall down!"

 

[MisterCairo]

I too just learned about Richard Hatch's death. I watched the original as a kid, and thought it great he came back for the reboot in another role. Once again, far too young.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/obit-hatch-richard-battlestar-1.3943529

Richard Hatch, left, with Jamie Bamber on the set of Battlestar Galactica, Surrey BC, in 2004:

As Capt Appollo: