Josip Elic, remembered for his performance as the confused, constantly tired asylum inmate Bancini who carries Jack Nicholson’s rebellious, basketball-dunking McMurphy on his shoulders in 1975’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, died Monday at a rehabilitation facility in New Jersey. He was 98.
His death was announced by his friend, manager Matt Beckoff, in a Facebook post. Elic had been in failing health since suffering a fall at his New York residence several years ago; he lived with friend and caretaker, the actress Lee Meredith, and her husband at their home in River Edge, New Jersey, before transferring to a nearby assisted-living residence, according to a 2018 North Record newspaper profile.
After early TV roles in 1950s series such as Kraft Theatre, The Phil Silvers Show, Peter Gunn and The Asphalt Jungle, Elic made appearances in two Twilight Zone episodes. Soon came roles in the 1964 camp classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a 1966 TV adaptation of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, and, in 1967, Mel Brooks’ The Producers. In the latter, he was featured in a memorable scene as the violinist who gets a bottle of champagne dumped down his pants by Zero Mostel.
He’ll best be remembered for his role as Cuckoo‘s befuddled Bancini, a near-catatonic patient who repeatedly mutters an exhausted “I”m tired,” only once rising in anger during a group therapy session shouting “I’m tired! And it’s a lot of baloney!” His major moment, though, was an improvised basketball court scene in which Nicholson’s McMurphy climbs atop the towering Bancini’s shoulders to teach the other asylum inmates how to dunk a basketball – all under the watchful, scornful eye of Louise Fletcher’s sadistic Nurse Ratched.
In the North Jersey Record interview last year, Elic and Meredith spoke of their long friendship and Elic’s recent health problems.
“He was living in New York all by himself,” Meredith said. “He had these steep stairs he was going up and down. His doctors said, ‘You can’t be alone any more.’ So Joe came here, and things worked out pretty well. We’re kind of his family now.”
Said Elic, “They were wonderful to me. Took care of me right and left. Changed my sheets, wouldn’t let me go into the kitchen to wash my cup or anything.”
His friend and caretaker survives him, as does a sister.
His death was announced by his friend, manager Matt Beckoff, in a Facebook post. Elic had been in failing health since suffering a fall at his New York residence several years ago; he lived with friend and caretaker, the actress Lee Meredith, and her husband at their home in River Edge, New Jersey, before transferring to a nearby assisted-living residence, according to a 2018 North Record newspaper profile.
After early TV roles in 1950s series such as Kraft Theatre, The Phil Silvers Show, Peter Gunn and The Asphalt Jungle, Elic made appearances in two Twilight Zone episodes. Soon came roles in the 1964 camp classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a 1966 TV adaptation of Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory, and, in 1967, Mel Brooks’ The Producers. In the latter, he was featured in a memorable scene as the violinist who gets a bottle of champagne dumped down his pants by Zero Mostel.
He’ll best be remembered for his role as Cuckoo‘s befuddled Bancini, a near-catatonic patient who repeatedly mutters an exhausted “I”m tired,” only once rising in anger during a group therapy session shouting “I’m tired! And it’s a lot of baloney!” His major moment, though, was an improvised basketball court scene in which Nicholson’s McMurphy climbs atop the towering Bancini’s shoulders to teach the other asylum inmates how to dunk a basketball – all under the watchful, scornful eye of Louise Fletcher’s sadistic Nurse Ratched.
In the North Jersey Record interview last year, Elic and Meredith spoke of their long friendship and Elic’s recent health problems.
“He was living in New York all by himself,” Meredith said. “He had these steep stairs he was going up and down. His doctors said, ‘You can’t be alone any more.’ So Joe came here, and things worked out pretty well. We’re kind of his family now.”
Said Elic, “They were wonderful to me. Took care of me right and left. Changed my sheets, wouldn’t let me go into the kitchen to wash my cup or anything.”
His friend and caretaker survives him, as does a sister.
- 10/25/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
"We've got to find the worst play ever written!" Studiocanal UK has debuted a short new trailer for a 4K restoration re-release of Mel Brooks' original comedy classic The Producers, which first hit cinemas in 1968. They're celebrating the film's 50th anniversary, and putting it back in theaters for one day only this August (in the UK). There's no Us plans yet, but we expect to hear something soon. Brooks' The Producers is about two producers who decide to make a flop Broadway show since it will make them more money than a hit. They go on to produce the hilarious show Springtime for Hitler. Gene Wilder stars in the film, along with Zero Mostel as his producer cohort, with Kenneth Mars, Dick Shawn, Lorenzo St. DuBois, Lee Meredith, Estelle Winwood, Christopher Hewett, and Andreas Voutsinas. Jawohl! This is a major comedy classic and a film that everyone should have seen by now anyway.
- 6/15/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
We are in the throngs of springtime so it can only mean one thing: it’s time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of movie history’s funniest–and controversial–cult comedies turned classics, The Producers. Returning to nationwide movie theaters for two days only, Sunday, June 3, and Wednesday, June 6 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (local time), Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Rialto Pictures are bringing back the Mel Brooks‘ comedy masterpiece in a brand-new 4K restoration (at select theaters) so that moviegoers can properly laugh, groan, and laugh again at washed up Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) and his neurotic accountant Leo Bloom (Gene Wilder) as they attempt and epically fail at cashing in on a seemingly surefire flop: a musical extravaganza singing the praises of the Third Reich.
The shock-inducing, rib-tickling Springtime for Hitler becomes an unexpected and unfortunate smash hit, and...
The shock-inducing, rib-tickling Springtime for Hitler becomes an unexpected and unfortunate smash hit, and...
- 5/14/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By Giacomo Selloni
Published for the first time anywhere, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Mickey Spillane's birth, come two short novels in the same book. "The Last Stand" (Spillane's final novel) is preceded by "A Bullet for Satisfaction," an unfinished manuscript that was finalized by Spillane's long-time collaborator Max Allan Collins. Both stories are satisfying reads. The book has been published by the Hard Case Crime imprint from Titan Books.
Mickey Spillane is best known for his character Mike Hammer, the fictional P.I. that redefined the "action hero" and spawned countless imitators. Unlike private investigators before him, Mike Hammer was a merciless executor of villains who slept with countless beautiful, willing women. Sound like anyone we know? The first Mike Hammer novel, "I, The Jury," was published in 1947, six years prior to Ian Fleming's James Bond debut, "Casino Royale." It may be argued that if Fleming...
Published for the first time anywhere, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Mickey Spillane's birth, come two short novels in the same book. "The Last Stand" (Spillane's final novel) is preceded by "A Bullet for Satisfaction," an unfinished manuscript that was finalized by Spillane's long-time collaborator Max Allan Collins. Both stories are satisfying reads. The book has been published by the Hard Case Crime imprint from Titan Books.
Mickey Spillane is best known for his character Mike Hammer, the fictional P.I. that redefined the "action hero" and spawned countless imitators. Unlike private investigators before him, Mike Hammer was a merciless executor of villains who slept with countless beautiful, willing women. Sound like anyone we know? The first Mike Hammer novel, "I, The Jury," was published in 1947, six years prior to Ian Fleming's James Bond debut, "Casino Royale." It may be argued that if Fleming...
- 3/25/2018
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
David’s Quick Take for the tl;dr Media Consumer:
A brash, vulgar, wildly energetic and shamelessly provocative comedy romp that launched Mel Brooks as a film director, Gene Wilder as a popular comic actor, and grossly expanded the latitude extended to comedians in cinema, establishing radically poor taste as an acceptable marketing strategy in mainstream entertainment. Though The Producers is fondly remembered, massively influential and boasts some truly unforgettable sequences of inspired lunacy, too much time is dedicated to histrionic leering, shouting and shrieking episodes that don’t deliver enough in terms of wit to earn my enthusiastic endorsement overall. The story line is pretty familiar – a rambunctious Broadway showman conspires with a neurotic accountant to bilk investors in an offensive production, only to see their plan foiled when the play becomes an unexpected hit. The premise is clever and offers a broad platform for unbridled zaniness. A lot...
A brash, vulgar, wildly energetic and shamelessly provocative comedy romp that launched Mel Brooks as a film director, Gene Wilder as a popular comic actor, and grossly expanded the latitude extended to comedians in cinema, establishing radically poor taste as an acceptable marketing strategy in mainstream entertainment. Though The Producers is fondly remembered, massively influential and boasts some truly unforgettable sequences of inspired lunacy, too much time is dedicated to histrionic leering, shouting and shrieking episodes that don’t deliver enough in terms of wit to earn my enthusiastic endorsement overall. The story line is pretty familiar – a rambunctious Broadway showman conspires with a neurotic accountant to bilk investors in an offensive production, only to see their plan foiled when the play becomes an unexpected hit. The premise is clever and offers a broad platform for unbridled zaniness. A lot...
- 4/10/2016
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Herbert Ross’s 1975 film The Sunshine Boys, which stars Walter Matthau, George Burns, and Richard Benjamin, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be holding a special one-night-only showing of the 111-minute film on Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 at 7:00 pm. Actor Richard Benjamin is scheduled to appear at the screening and is due to partake in a Q & A and discussion on the making of the film.
From the press release:
Fortieth anniversary screening of The Sunshine Boys (1975), Tuesday, August 4 at 7 Pm at the Royal.
Walter Matthau, George Burns, and Richard Benjamin star in the film version of Neil Simon's hit Broadway comedy about a pair of feuding vaudeville stars who are pressured to reunite for a TV special. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, and Burns won the Oscar for his first significant film role since Honolulu in 1939. The...
From the press release:
Fortieth anniversary screening of The Sunshine Boys (1975), Tuesday, August 4 at 7 Pm at the Royal.
Walter Matthau, George Burns, and Richard Benjamin star in the film version of Neil Simon's hit Broadway comedy about a pair of feuding vaudeville stars who are pressured to reunite for a TV special. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, and Burns won the Oscar for his first significant film role since Honolulu in 1939. The...
- 7/29/2015
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Good help is hard to find. Gorgeous help is even harder to find. Billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) understands. He hired stunning Scarlett Johansson, alongside pretty Gwyneth Paltrow, for Iron Man 2 because one beautiful assistant isn't enough. Stark's math makes sense, which is why we've compiled a pool of the ten sexiest secretaries to grace the silver screen over the years. Dive right in.10. Page Connors (Jennifer Love Hewitt), HeartbreakersTechnically, Hewitt plays a con artist posing as a secretary. But precious few guys will be paying attention to plot points once the curvy star of Ghost Whisperer, in a successful attempt to distract sleazy Ray Liotta, leans over a desk and lets her, ahem, lovely Hewitts do the talking. Can you blame the former Goodfella for being bad and planting his hands all over this secretarial temptress? 9. Ulla (Uma Thurman), The ProducersWhen you got it, flaunt it.
- 5/2/2010
- AMC Filmcritic's Top Ten
Good help is hard to find. Gorgeous help is even harder to find. Billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) understands. He hired stunning Scarlett Johansson, alongside pretty Gwyneth Paltrow, for Iron Man 2 because one beautiful assistant isn't enough. Stark's math makes sense, which is why we've compiled a pool of the ten sexiest secretaries to grace the silver screen over the years. Dive right in.10. Page Connors (Jennifer Love Hewitt), HeartbreakersTechnically, Hewitt plays a con artist posing as a secretary. But precious few guys will be paying attention to plot points once the curvy star of Ghost Whisperer, in a successful attempt to distract sleazy Ray Liotta, leans over a desk and lets her, ahem, lovely Hewitts do the talking. Can you blame the former Goodfella for being bad and planting his hands all over this secretarial temptress? 9. Ulla (Uma Thurman), The ProducersWhen you got it, flaunt it.
- 4/30/2010
- by Sean O’Connell
- AMC Filmcritic's Top Ten
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