95th Academy Awards In Memoriam predictions
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- Estelle Harris was an American actress and comedienne, known for her exaggerated shrill and grating comedic voice. She often worked as a voice actress in animation, voicing supporting characters and guest stars. Her best known roles are the obnoxious mother Estelle Costanza in the sitcom "Seinfeld" (1989-1998) and the sweet wife Mrs. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" film series.
Harris was born Estelle Nussbaum in 1928 in Manhattan, New York City. Her parents were Isaac "Ira" Nussbaum and his wife Anna (Stern), first-generation Jewish emigrants from Poland. Her parents owned a candy store in New York City. In 1935, the Nussbaum family moved to Tarentum, Pennsylvania, an industrial town primarily known for production of bottles. Ira had accepted a job offer from relatives who had already settled in Tarentum.
Harris was primarily raised in Tarentum, and graduated from the local high school. Relatively little is known for her life in early adulthood. In 1952, Estelle started dating Sy Harris, a window treatment salesman. They were married in early 1953, despite knowing each other for only 6 months at that point. Between 1957 and 1964, Harris gave birth to three children (two sons and a daughter). She was primarily a housewife until her children were old enough to attend school.
Harris aspired to an acting career, but started out in amateur productions. She eventually had roles in dinner theater, and found some success when cast in various television commercials. At one point she filmed 23 different commercials in a single year. In 1984, Harris had a small role in the crime film "Once Upon a Time in America", which primarily depicted the lives of Jewish-American gangsters.
In 1985, Harris was cast in the recurring role of Easy Mary in the sitcom "Night Court" (1984-1992). The sitcom focused on eccentric characters interacting with the night shift staff of a Manhattan municipal court. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, Harris was frequently cast in guest-star roles in various then-popular series, such as "Married... with Children" and "Mad About You".
Harris' big break came in 1992 when cast in "Seinfield" as Estelle Costanza, the overbearing mother of neurotic character George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander). The character spend most of her screen-time in berating her son, belittling anything which her son cared about, arguing with her husband, and maintaining hostile relations with nearly everyone who she interacted with. She became one of the series' most prominent supporting characters, allowing Harris to become a household name.
By 1995, Harris had started voicing characters in animated television series. Among her earliest prominent roles in the medium was voicing Timon's mother in the comedy series "Timon & Pumbaa" (1994-1999), which was a spin-off of "The Lion King". In 1996, Harris had a guest-star role in the science fiction series "Star Trek: Voyager", as an unnamed elder of the Nechani tribe. Her role was to guide protagonist Kathryn Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew) through a tribal ritual which would heal Janeway's friend Kes (played by Jennifer Lien).
In 1998, Harris was cast as Grandmama Delilah Addams in the television film "Addams Family Reunion", the paternal grandmother of Gomez and Fester Addams. The film was based on the comic strip "Addams Family" (1938-1964) by Charles Addams, which had many other adaptations. In the film, Delilah suffers from Walthzheimer's disease, a condition which turns aging people into unnaturally "pleasant" versions of themselves. The rest of the Addams family is horrified by Delilah's fate.
In 1999, Harris was cast as Mrs. Potato Head in the computer-animated film "Toy Story 2". The character was depicted as the sweet and loving wife of Mr. Potato Head (voiced Don Rickles). Her personality was intended to contrast with the hot-headed and pessimistic behavior of her husband. The film was a box office hit. Harris would resume this role in the sequels "Toy Story 3" (2010) and "Toy Story 4" (2019), which were also commercially successful.
In 2004, Harris voiced the nervous hen Audrey in the Western comedy film "Home on the Range". The character was a member of the film's supporting cast and had a tendency to panic when dealing with her fear of abandonment. This animated film under performed at the box office, convincing Disney to cease producing traditionally animated films.
Also in 2004, Harris was cast in the recurring role of Mrs. Lipsky in the comedy adventure television series "Kim Possible". Her character was depicted as the overly-affectionate mother of the super-villain Dr. Drakken/Drew Theodore P. Lipsky, who still treated him as her baby boy and unwittingly interfered with his plans. Harris was also cast in a recurring role in the fantasy television series "Dave the Barbarian", as Lula the sentient enchanted sword.
In 2005, Harris voiced the antagonist Mama Gunda in the animated film "Tarzan II". The character was a female gorilla who used her own sons in a scheme to gain political power, but reforms after falling in love with a new mate. The film was one of the few Disney films were the antagonists find redemption.
Also in 2005, Harris was cast in the recurring role of Muriel in the live-action sitcom The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005). Her character was an elderly hotel maid, whose greed, laziness, and irritability were recurring plot points. In her last appearance on the show Muriel was "fired" by her boss, who failed to realize that Muriel had already retired and was no longer in his payroll.
Harris had relatively few new roles during the 2010s. Her most prominent recurring role at that time was the benevolent ghost Peg-Leg Peg in the fantasy series Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011), a spin-off of Peter Pan. She died in 2022, a year after husband Sy. Harris is fondly remembered for the many recurring characters which she has played or voiced, and is regarded as a veteran of the animation industry. - Producer
- Actor
- Writer
At the tender age of 15, Gilbert Gottfried began doing stand-up at open mike nights in New York City and, after a few short years, became known around town as "the comedian's comedian". After spending several years mastering the art of stand-up comedy, producers of the legendary NBC late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live (1975) became aware of Gottfried and, in 1980, hired him as a cast member. It was not until a few years later that his notoriety began after MTV hired him for a series of improvised and hilarious promos for the newly formed channel. This led to several television appearances on The Cosby Show (1984).
Gottfried's work in television soon led to roles in film. Most notable was his improvised scene as business manager "Sidney Bernstein" in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). The New York Daily News critic wrote that "Gilbert Gottfried steals the picture with a single scene". Aside from his glowing reputation in comedy clubs, Gottfried gained a reputation as the king of quirky roles in both movies and television. He appeared in such movies as Problem Child (1990), Problem Child 2 (1991), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990). He was also the host of the very popular late night movie series Up All Night (1989).
After his performance as the wise cracking parrot "Iago" in the Disney classic Aladdin (1992), Gottfried became one of the most recognizable voice-over talents. His signature voice was heard in several commercials, cartoons and movies, including the frustrated duck in the AFLAC Insurance commercials. Gottfried was the voice of Digit in the long-running PBS series Cyberchase (2002).
Gottfried was a regular on the new Hollywood Squares (1998) and was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) and Howard Stern on Demand (2005). He appeared in the hit comedy documentary The Aristocrats (2005), with Entertainment Weekly opining that, "out of the 101 comedians who appear on screen, no one is funnier - or more disgusting - than Gilbert Gottfried".
"Gilbert Gottfried Dirty Jokes" was recently released on both DVD and CD, featuring 50 non-stop minutes of Gottfried telling the funniest and filthiest jokes, ever. The show was filmed live at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. Also featured on the DVD are some of the funniest bonus features ever, including wild stories, indignant ranting and celebrity impressions. For this live performance, Gottfried put aside political correctness and fires an onslaught of jokes that know no boundaries. At the end of the show, Gottfried told what is known among comedians as the "Dirtiest Joke of All Time", the basis for The Aristocrats (2005). He was one of the most sought-after comedians, and regularly performed live to sold-out audiences across North America.
Gottfried died of ventricular tachycardia at the age of 67, leaving behind his wife, his two children, and his sister, Karen.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Andrzej Korzynski was born on 2 March 1940 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was a composer and actor, known for Possession (1981), Bird Talk (2019) and Big Shar (1983). He died on 18 April 2022 in Poland.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Harold Livingston was born on 4 September 1924 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, USA. He was a writer, known for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Mission: Impossible (1966) and Future Cop (1976). He died on 28 April 2022 in Westlake Village, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
He started out as romantic hero full of beauty and talent in Girl with a Suitcase (1961) beside Claudia Cardinale. Director Valerio Zurlini engaged the talented young actor for his Family Diary (1962) as Marcello Mastroianni's brother. Jacques Perrin's longtime work with director Costa-Gavras started with The Sleeping Car Murder (1965) and Un uomo a metà (1966) in which he had played the sensible heroes. For Costa-Gavras's Z (1969) he played a main part and was the producer. Jacques Perrin has played often in famous romantic movies by Jacques Demy beside Catherine Deneuve and in social-critic-movies like Home Sweet Home (1973) beside Claude Jade, for which he was co-producer too with his Reggane Productions. One of his memorable later roles is the adult Salvatore as movie-director in Cinema Paradiso (1988). In Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001), he plays the older Thomas.- A beautiful auburn-haired lass with blue/grey eyes, Andra Martin was born Sandra Hildur Rehn (pronounced 'Wren') in Rockford, Illinois, of Swedish ancestry. She grew up on her parent's farm, attended high school in her home town and harboured dreams of becoming a star. Andra's first step on that projected career path was to spend two years studying speech and drama at Northwestern University. Her next stop was New York where she finagled her first job as a model while continuing part-time acting studies under the personal tutelage of Lee Strasberg. Strasberg was suitably impressed, considered her 'a natural' and recommended her to Joshua Logan to screen test for the female lead in Sayonara (1957) (opposite Marlon Brando). Alas, that fell through as did another audition at Warner Brothers for the part in Marjorie Morningstar (1958) which had already been earmarked for Natalie Wood. Universal-International eventually took up the option and signed the budding starlet under contract.The publicity machine went rapidly into top gear, comparing Andra to Hollywood's biggest and brightest, a melding of the attributes of Elizabeth Taylor and Betty Grable with the brains of a Katharine Hepburn. Sadly, her subsequent casting would tend to emphasize her beauty rather than her talent.
Andra only appeared in three pictures for Universal, none of them particularly good. The first was a second lead in a so-so romantic drama (The Lady Takes a Flyer (1958)) as the 'other woman', competing with Lana Turner for the affections of Jeff Chandler. Her character, a pilot, gets killed towards the end. Her other outing was a second-billed role in The Big Beat (1958), a youth-oriented musical which featured no less than fifteen musical numbers. Unsurprisingly, with just 81 minutes of screen time, there was little room for the semblance of a plot (or acting, for that matter). Number three was one of Universal's quota quickies, a lame horror film (The Thing That Couldn't Die (1958)) which cast Andra as a water diviner with telepathic abilities (!). She also made a few of films under contract to Warners, notably the submarine drama Up Periscope (1959) (as the perfunctory female lead) and the Clint Walker western Yellowstone Kelly (1959) (as the love interest, a captive Arapaho girl). By the end of the 50s, the newly minted Deb Star was earning $200 per week.
While her movie career was going nowhere, Andra managed quite well in securing spots as featured leading lady on many popular TV shows on the Warners roster, including Bronco (1958), Cheyenne (1955), 77 Sunset Strip (1958), The Alaskans (1959), Bourbon Street Beat (1959) and Hawaiian Eye (1959). In August 1958, she married Bronco star Ty Hardin (over the objections of their respective managers and Warner Brothers TV execs, who argued that such a union would ruin their romantic appeal to the public). The marriage ended in divorce in 1962. Andra left the film business following her second marriage to a department store heir which lasted six years. A third marriage, however, endured from 1970 until Andra's passing on May 3 2022 at the age of 86. - Composer
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Vangelis was a composer and performer who worked almost exclusively with electronic instruments. With Jean-Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield in the 1970s, Vangelis was a pioneer in the instrumental music and a main influence in the creation of the musical genre "new age," a style related to spiritual, meditation, relaxing ambient sounds as well as sounds from outer space. He was probably most well known for his Chariots of Fire (1981), Blade Runner (1982), The Bounty (1984) and 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) soundtracks or for the tracks used in the documentary TV series Cosmos (1980) created, produced and hosted by scientist Carl Sagan. Vangelis was involved in many musical collaborations, most famously with British progressive rock band Yes's founding member Jon Anderson.- Visual Effects
- Additional Crew
Colin Cantwell was born on 3 April 1932 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is known for WarGames (1983), Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He died on 21 May 2022 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Peter Koper was born in 1947 in Quakenbrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. He was a writer and producer, known for Island of the Dead (2000), Headless Body in Topless Bar (1995) and Social Aid and Pleasure Club. He died on 21 May 2022 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Gary Nelson was born on 6 October 1934 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a director and assistant director, known for The Black Hole (1979), Washington: Behind Closed Doors (1977) and Get Smart (1965). He was married to Judi Meredith. He died on 25 May 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Intense was the word for Ray Liotta. He specialized in psychopathic characters who hide behind a cultivated charm. Even in his nice-guy roles in Field of Dreams (1989) and Operation Dumbo Drop (1995), you get the impression that something is smoldering inside of him. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and was adopted by Mary (Edgar), a township clerk, and Alfred Liotta, an auto parts store owner. He studied acting at the University of Miami, where he became friends with Steven Bauer (Scarface (1983), Thief of Hearts (1984)). He spent his first years acting in TV: Another World (1964), a TV movie and several short-lived series. He broke into movies with the black comedy Something Wild (1986), which garnered him rave reviews. Originally unable to get a reading, he was recommended for the part by Melanie Griffith (then married to Bauer).
Following the success Something Wild (1986), he received more offers in the "psycho" vein, but refused them to avoid being typecast. Instead, he made "little movies" like Dominick and Eugene (1988), which earned him standing as an actor's actor, and Field of Dreams (1989), whose success always surprised him. When he heard Martin Scorsese was casting Goodfellas (1990), he lobbied hard for the part of Henry Hill. The film's huge success brought him wide popularity and garnered him star billing in future films such as Article 99 (1992), Unlawful Entry (1992), and Unforgettable (1996).
Liotta died on May 26, 2022, aged 67, in his sleep while filming on location in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.- Actor
- Producer
Sandy-haired American actor Bo Hopkins was born William Mauldin Hopkins in Greenville, South Carolina, and was raised by his mother and grandmother after his father died when Bo was only nine years old. He joined the US Army at the age of 16. After serving his hitch he decided on acting as a career and gained experience in summer stock productions and guest spots in several TV episodes.
Hopkins broke into feature films as the ill-fated "Crazy Lee" in the Sam Peckinpah landmark western The Wild Bunch (1969), and was subsequently hired by Peckinpah for another none-too-bright role as a bank robber in The Getaway (1972) and then as a hired killer pairing up with CIA agent James Caan in The Killer Elite (1975). He was busy on television during the 1980s and 1990s, guest-starring on The Rockford Files (1974), Charlie's Angels (1976), The A-Team (1983), Hotel (1983) and Matt Houston (1982), and was featured on Dynasty (1981). In addition, he starred in dozens of feature films, such as Midnight Express (1978), American Graffiti (1973), The Bounty Hunter (1989), U Turn (1997) and Shade (2003). With his "good old boy" persona and Southern drawl, Hopkins often played lawmen, psychos, or oily villains.
He makes his home in Los Angeles with his wife Sian and son Matthew, and is a keen fisherman, fan of the Anaheim Angels baseball team, and enjoys raising koi fish.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Philip Baker Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio, to Berdene (McDonald) and William Alexander Hall, a factory worker who was originally from Montgomery, Alabama. He did not start acting until he was 30 years old. Known to film fans for his turn as Richard Nixon in Robert Altman's one-man show film Secret Honor (1984), he shot to cult fame when he turned in another electrifying performance, as Sydney, the veteran gambler, in Paul Thomas Anderson's debut feature, Hard Eight (1996). However, it was his work in the same director's star-studded Magnolia (1999) that really caught the mass film public's attention; his performance as the legendary quiz show presenter "Jimmy Gator" was highly acclaimed. These acclaimed smaller films led to Hall's casting in multiple blockbuster hits of the 1990s and 2000s, including The Sum of All Fears (2002) and Dogville (2003), directed by Lars von Trier.- Actor
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- Director
Born 1930 in Piolenc in south France as son of a wealthy industrialist. Studied law in Aix-en-Provence. Started theatrical acting in 1950, but was regarded untalented at first, until Roger Vadim discovered him for the movies. When the press stalked him 1956 because of rumors of an affair with Brigitte Bardot his partner in ...And God Created Woman (1956), he fled into the army. Ten years later he had his first big success with A Man and a Woman (1966). Since then he has starred in more than 100 movies, with a special talent for the dark characters like murderers or jealous husbands. In his late career he preferred theater to movies.- Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Robert Katz was born on 7 February 1943 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Gettysburg (1993), Selena (1997) and The Telephone (1988). He was married to Pamela Katz, Patricia Brown and Tishialu Katz. He died on 22 June 2022 in Van Nuys, California, USA.- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
Duncan Henderson was born on 19 July 1949 in Culver City, California, USA. He was a producer and assistant director, known for The Way Back (2010), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). He was married to Michele P. Henderson. He died on 21 June 2022 in Valencia, California, USA.- Joseph Turkel was an American character actor. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films The Killing, Paths of Glory, and The Shining, and as Dr. Eldon Tyrell in Blade Runner. He also had roles in three of Bert I. Gordon's films. Joseph Turkel was born in Brooklyn on July 15, 1927, to Benjamin Turkel, who was a tailor, and Gazella (née Goldfisher), a homemaker and occasional opera singer. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants. He had two brothers, Harold and David. Turkel joined the United States Army when he was seventeen and served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
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A masculine and enigmatic actor whose life and movie career have had more ups and downs than the average rollercoaster and whose selection of roles has arguably derailed him from achieving true superstar status, James Caan is New York-born and bred.
He was born in the Bronx, to Sophie (Falkenstein) and Arthur Caan, Jewish immigrants from Germany. His father was a meat dealer and butcher. The athletically gifted Caan played football at Michigan State University while studying economics, holds a black belt in karate and for several years was even a regular on the rodeo circuit, where he was nicknamed "The Jewish Cowboy". However, while studying at Hofstra University, he became intrigued by acting and was interviewed and accepted at Sanford Meisner's Neighborhood Playhouse. He then won a scholarship to study under acting coach Wynn Handman and began to appear in several off-Broadway productions, including "I Roam" and "Mandingo".
He made his screen debut as a sailor in Irma la Douce (1963) and began to impress audiences with his work in Red Line 7000 (1965) and the western El Dorado (1966) alongside John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. Further work followed in Journey to Shiloh (1968) and in the sensitive The Rain People (1969). However, audiences were moved to tears as he put in a heart-rending performance as cancer-stricken Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo in the highly rated made-for-TV film Brian's Song (1971).
With these strong performances under his belt, Francis Ford Coppola then cast him as hot-tempered gangster Santino "Sonny" Corleone in the Mafia epic The Godfather (1972). The film was an enormous success, Caan scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination and, in the years since, the role has proven to be the one most fondly remembered by his legion of fans. He reprised the role for several flashback scenes in the sequel The Godfather Part II (1974) and then moved on to several very diverse projects. These included a cop-buddy crime partnership with Alan Arkin in the uneven Freebie and the Bean (1974), a superb performance as a man playing for his life in The Gambler (1974) alongside Lauren Hutton, and pairing with Barbra Streisand in Funny Lady (1975). Two further strong lead roles came up for him in 1975, first as futuristic sports star "Jonathon E" questioning the moral fiber of a sterile society in Rollerball (1975) and teaming up with Robert Duvall in the Sam Peckinpah spy thriller The Killer Elite (1975).
Unfortunately, Caan's rising star sputtered badly at this stage of his career, and several film projects failed to find fire with either critics or audiences. These included such failures as the hokey Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976), the quasi-western Comes a Horseman (1978) and the saccharine Chapter Two (1979). However, he did score again with the stylish Michael Mann-directed heist movie Thief (1981). He followed this with a supernatural romantic comedy titled Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) and then, due to personal conflicts, dropped out of the spotlight for several years before returning with a stellar performance under old friend Francis Ford Coppola in the moving Gardens of Stone (1987).
Caan appeared back in favor with fans and critics alike and raised his visibility with the sci-fi hit Alien Nation (1988) and Dick Tracy (1990), then surprised everyone by playing a meek romance novelist held captive after a car accident by a deranged fan in the dynamic Misery (1990). The 1990s were kind to him and he notched up roles as a band leader in For the Boys (1991), another gangster in Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), appeared in the indie hit Bottle Rocket (1996) and pursued Arnold Schwarzenegger in Eraser (1996).
The demand on Caan's talents seems to have increased steadily over the past few years as he is making himself known to a new generation of fans. Recent hot onscreen roles have included The Yards (2000), City of Ghosts (2002) and Dogville (2003). In addition, he finds himself at the helm of the hit TV series Las Vegas (2003) as casino security chief "Big Ed" Deline. An actor of undeniably manly appeal, James Caan continued to surprise and delight audiences with his invigorating performances up until his death in July 2022 at the age of 82.- Actor
- Producer
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This tall, sandy-haired, mustachioed actor from Texas, born Justus McQueen, adopted the name of the character he portrayed in his first film, Battle Cry (1955). Jones, with his craggy, gaunt looks, first appeared in minor character roles in plenty of WWII films including The Young Lions (1958), The Naked and the Dead (1958), Hell Is for Heroes (1962) and Battle of the Coral Sea (1959). However, 1962 saw him team up with maverick director Sam Peckinpah for the first of Jones' five appearances in his films. Ride the High Country (1962) saw Jones play one of the lowlife Hammond brothers. Next he appeared alongside Charlton Heston in Major Dundee (1965), then Peckinpah cast him, along with his real-life friend Strother Martin, as one of the scummy, murderous bounty hunters in The Wild Bunch (1969). Such was the chemistry between Jones and Martin that Peckinpah teamed them again the following year in The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and Jones' final appearance in a Peckinpah film was in another western, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973). Two years later Jones directed the cult post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog (1975) starring a young Don Johnson. He has continued to work in Hollywood, and as the lines on his craggy face have deepened, he turns up more frequently as crusty old westerners, especially in multiple TV guest spots. He turned in an interesting performance as a seemingly good ol' boy Nevada cowboy who was actually a powerful behind-the-scenes player in state politics who leaned on Robert De Niro's Las Vegas mob gambler in Martin Scorsese's violent and powerful Casino (1995).- Tony Sirico was born in New York City on July 29, 1942 to a family of Italian descent. He grew up in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East Flatbush and Bensonhurst. His brother, Father Robert Sirico, is a Catholic priest and co-founder of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. The Institute has been described as an "American research and educational institution, or think tank," in Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles."
Sirico was convicted of several crimes and was arrested 28 times, including for disorderly conduct, assault, and robbery, before taking up acting. On February 27, 1970, he was arrested at a restaurant, and found with a .32 caliber revolver on his person. In 1971, he was indicted for extortion, coercion, and felony weapons possession, convicted, and sentenced to four years in prison, of which he served 20 months at Sing Sing.
Tony Sirico died on July 8, 2022, from undisclosed causes, aged 79. - Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Monty Norman was born on 4 April 1928 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Dr. No (1962), GoldenEye (1995) and Thunderball (1965). He was married to Rina Caesari and Diana Coupland. He died on 11 July 2022 in Slough, Berkshire, England, UK.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Bob Rafelson was an American film director, writer and producer. He is regarded as one of the founders of the New Hollywood movement in the 1970s. Among his best-known films are Five Easy Pieces (1970), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981). He was also one of the creators of the pop group and TV series The Monkees (1965).
Rafelson's debut as a director was Head, a feature film starring the Monkees. Co-written with friend Jack Nicholson, and featuring appearances by Nicholson, Victor Mature, Teri Garr, Carol Doda, Annette Funicello, Frank Zappa, Sonny Liston, Timothy Carey, Ray Nitschke, and Dennis Hopper. Rafelson did six films with Jack Nicholson, Head (1968), Five Easy Pieces (1970), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Man Trouble (1992), and Blood and Wine (1996).- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Distinguished character actor David Hattersley Warner was born on July 29, 1941 in Manchester, England, to Ada Doreen (Hattersley) and Herbert Simon Warner. He was born out of wedlock and raised by each of his parents, eventually settling with his itinerant father and stepmother. He only saw his mother again on her deathbed. As an only child from a dysfunctional family, young David excelled neither at academia nor at athletics. He attended eight schools and "failed his exams at all of them." After a series of odd jobs, he was accepted against all odds at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
When he first took up acting, it was not with the notion of a prospective career, but rather to escape (in his own words) 'a messy childhood.' Warner received some early mentoring from one of his teachers, and made his theatrical debut in 1962 at the Royal Court Theatre as Snout in A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tony Richardson. A year later, he became the youngest-ever actor to play Hamlet at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Comedy may not have been his forte as much as the likes of Falstaff, Lysander and (on several occasions) Henry VI. Eventually becoming disaffected with the theatre (and plagued for some years by stage fright), Warner found himself better served by the celluloid medium. His first big break came on the strength of his small part in A Midsummer Night's Dream, courtesy of Tony Richardson who cast him in his bawdy period romp Tom Jones (1963) as the mendacious, pimple-faced antagonist Blifil, who vied with Albert Finney for the affections of Susannah York. A proper starring turn on the big screen followed in due course with the title role in Morgan! (1966), Warner playing a deranged artist with Marxist leanings who goes to absurd lengths to reclaim his ex-wife (played by Vanessa Redgrave), including blowing up his mother-in-law. In yet another off-beat satire, Work Is a Four Letter Word (1968), Warner played a corporate drop-out who grows psychedelic mushrooms in an automated world of the future. Combined with his two-year stint as Hamlet with the RSC, Warner became a star at age 24.
By the 1970s, he had become one of Britain's most sought-after character actors and went on to enjoy an illustrious and prolific career on both sides of the Atlantic, throughout which he rarely spurned a role offered him. Tall and somewhat ungainly in appearance, Warner excelled at troubled, introspective loners, outcasts and mavericks or downright sinister individuals. The latter have included SS General Reinhardt Heydrich in Holocaust (1978), Jack the Ripper in Time After Time (1979), Picard's sadistic Cardassian torturer Gul Madred in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), the villainous ex-Pinkerton man Spicer Lovejoy in Titanic (1997) and the evil geniuses of Time Bandits (1981) (a role turned down by Jonathan Pryce) and Tron (1982). He also essayed the creature to Robert Powell 's Frankenstein (1984).
Less eccentric roles saw him as the doomed photojournalist who literally loses his head in The Omen (1976) (Warner later described the experience of working alongside Gregory Peck as a career highlight), the sympathetic, but equally ill-fated Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) and the sad, likeable fantasist Aldous Gajic, searching for the Grail in Babylon 5 (1993). Warner also appeared in a trio of films for which he was handpicked by the director Sam Peckinpah. Best of these is arguably the comedy western The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), with Warner well cast as the roving-eyed, itinerant Reverend Joshua Duncan Sloane. Warner won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his performance as the Roman Senator Pomponius Falco in the miniseries Masada (1981). Following a three-decade long absence, Warner returned to the stage in 2001 for the role of Andrew Undershaft in Shaw's Major Barbara. In 2004, he played the title role in King Lear at the Chichester Theatre Festival in England. More recently, he appeared on TV as Professor Abraham Van Helsing in Penny Dreadful (2014), as Rabbi Max Steiner in Ripper Street (2012) and as Kenneth Branagh's ailing father in Wallander (2008).
A riveting screen presence, the ever-versatile and charismatic David Warner passed away aged 80 from cancer at Denville Hall, an entertainment industry care home, in Northwood, London, on 24 July 2022.- Actor
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Tall, dark and imposing American actor Paul Sorvino made a solid career of portraying authority figures.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York City. His mother, Angela (Renzi), was a piano teacher, of Italian descent. His father, Ford Sorvino, was an Italian immigrant who worked in a robe factory as a foreman. Paul originally had his heart set on a life as an opera singer. He was exposed to dramatic arts while studying at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. He furthered his studies with Sanford Meisner and eventually made his film debut in Where's Poppa? (1970).
Sorvino suffered from severe asthma, and worked hard at mastering various breathing techniques to manage the illness. He wrote a best-selling book entitled "How to Become a Former Asthmatic". He also started the Sorvino Asthma Foundation based in New York City.
Sorvino appeared in a variety of film, TV, and theatrical productions over five decades. He received critical praise for his role in the Broadway play "That Championship Season", and played the role again in the 1981 film alongside Robert Mitchum and Martin Sheen. Other noteworthy performances during the 1980s and 1990s included a stressed-out police chief in Cruising (1980), Mike Hammer's cop buddy in I, the Jury (1982), Lips Manlis in Dick Tracy (1990) with James Caan and in a standout performance as mob patriarch Paul Cicero in the powerhouse Goodfellas (1990).
Always keeping himself busy, Sorvino performed over 100 theatrical movies and over 30 TV movies throughout his career, including a dynamic and under-appreciated portrayal of Henry Kissinger in Nixon (1995), as "Fulgencio Capulet" in the updated Romeo + Juliet (1996) and in the Las Vegas thriller The Cooler (2003). At the time of his death in 2022, there were three more films in which he appeared yet to be released, including The Ride in which he worked alongside his wife Dee Dee Sorvino.
Sorvino was the proud father of Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Nichelle Nichols was one of 10 children born to parents Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. She was a singer and dancer before turning to acting and finding fame in her groundbreaking role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek (1966) series.
As long as she could remember, she wanted to do nothing but sing, dance, act and write despite no one else in her family following any of those tracks; although her father could tap dance. He not only became mayor of their town, Robbins, IL, but also a magistrate. On stage, Nichelle was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award as Best Actress of the Year; while on film she danced with Sammy Davis, Jr. in Porgy and Bess, and opposite James Garner in Mister Budwing (1965). In a complete changearound soon after the Star Trek television series came to an end, she played a blousey madam, then co-starred with Lynn Redgrave n Antony and Cleopatra. She was been married twice and had a son, Kyle Johnson, from her first marriage to a tap dancer.