December Passings

Opening credits of To Kill A Mockingbird directed by Robert Mulligan (1925 – 2008)

A number of Hollywood notables have passed away in the last few weeks. LiC has been taking a break from regular news items but I didn’t want the year to with these losses going unmentioned.

Forrest J. Ackerman, Sci-Fi Legend: 1916 – 2008. Editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine he helped found in 1958, Ackerman is given credit for coining the term “sci-fi” and for discovering Ray Bradbury. A writer and literary agent, Ackerman also appeared in over 200 cameos and he’s well known in Los Angeles for the massive collection of sci-fi memorabilia that filled the home he’d open up every Saturday for public tours. Mr. Ackerman died at home of heart failure. He was 92 years old. Source: Variety

Beverly Garland, Actress: 1926 – 2008. Best known as Fred MacMurray’s wife in the later seasons of TV’s My Three Sons, Garland got her start in 1950’s seminal film noir D.O.A. (as Beverly Campbell) and made a name for herself in a string of B pictures in the ’50s including Roger Corman’s classic Not of This Earth. She’ll also be remembered as the honorary mayor of North Hollywood, home of the LiC head offices, and for Bev Garland’s Holiday Inn, the hotel she’d owned and operated since the 1960s. Ms. Garland was 82. Source: Variety

Nina Foch, Actress: 1924 – 2008. The Dutch actress was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in Executive Suite, the 1954 film starring William Holden. She’ll be best remembered at LiC for her tiny part as Helena Glabrus, the woman with a taste for gladiatorial combat in Spartacus. She also appeared alongside Gene Kelly in An American in Paris. Foch died at age 84 of complications from myelodysplasia. Source: Variety

Robert Prosky, Actor: 1930 – 2008. I remember character actor Prosky best for his 3-year run on TV’s Hill Street Blues, but he also appeared regularly on the big screen in such films as Thief, The Natural and Broadcast News. He died December 8 of complications related to heart surgery. Source: Variety

Bettie Page, Pin-Up Model: 1923 – 2008. She wasn’t a movie star, but we couldn’t let the passing of cultural icon Bettie Page go without comment. She died December 11 following a heart attack and a long bout with pneumonia. She was 85 years old. Source: Variety

Van Johnson, Actor: 1916 – 2008. The star of LiC childhood favorite Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo died December 12 at age 92. Some of his other film appearances include A Guy Named Joe, Brigadoon and The Caine Mutiny. Source: Variety

Sam Bottoms, Actor: 1955 – 2008. The third of four acting Bottoms brothers (following Timothy and Joseph, preceding Ben) Sam got his start alongside brother Timothy in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 classic The Last Picture Show and he also had a memorable turn as surfer PFC Lance Johnson in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. He died December 17 of brain cancer. He was 53 years old. Source: Variety

Robert Mulligan, Director: 1925 – 2008. Mulligan’s place in Hollywood history is secured by his 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird for which he received an Oscar nomination. I first saw the movie in high school
as part of a literature class and the adult themes captured from the novel’s hazy, dreamy, childlike perspective left a mark. Gregory Peck’s memorable turn as Atticus Finch along with Mary Badham’s convincing portrayal of Scout first spring to mind when I think back on the film, but Mulligan’s direction – earnest without being heavy handed – combines with Horton Foote’s terrific screenplay to make the film work. It’s the rare movie with a strong message that doesn’t preach or talk down to its audience. Mulligan died December 20 of heart disease at age 83. Source: Variety

Filed under: Obituaries
Tags: Bettie Page, Beverly Garland, Forrest J. Ackerman, Nina Foch, Robert Prosky, Sam Bottoms, Van Johnson