• Archives

  • Meta

Peter Graves, Actor: 1926 – 2010

Peter Graves has died at the age of 83.
RIP Captain Oveur.
Source: E! Online

Corey Haim, Actor: 1971 – 2010

Corey Feldman, Corey Haim and Jamison Newlander in The Lost Boys (1987)
I’m just old enough to have outgrown types like Corey Haim before Corey Haim became famous. The only movie of his I’ve seen is The Lost Boys. Still, it’s sad to wake up to discover he died early this morning at age 38 of [...]

Lionel Jeffries – Actor/Director: 1926 – 2010

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang might not have the greatest reputation among cineastes, but I loved it unreservedly when I was a kid… and I still do. So it is with sadness I learn that Lionel Jeffries, best remembered by me as Grandpa Potts,  has died at the age of 83.
He’s on his way to far [...]

Kathryn Grayson, Singer/Actress: 1922 – 2010

Kathryn Grayson died Wednesday at the age of 88. I have to admit that  ’50s era MGM musicals are not my strong suit so I’m exactly the wrong guy to talk about why she should be remembered. Nevertheless, I wanted to note her passing.
The AP has the first decent (though boilerplate) obit.

Miramax Films: 1979 – 2010

You could argue that Miramax died when company founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein left in 2005, but today after months of rumors, reduced production slates and layoffs, it became official: Miramax is no more.
In the immediate term, 80 people are out of jobs and a handful of films that have already been produced  will go [...]

Zelda Rubinstein, Actress: 1933 – 2010

Character actress Zelda Rubinstein, whose spot in the pop culture firmament will forever be secure as the medium Tangina in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist, died today at the age of 76. She had been hospitalized for several weeks following a heart attack late last year.
Source: Radar (via Vulture)

Jean Simmons, Actress: 1929 – 2010

Actress Jean Simmons died Friday of lung cancer in Santa Monica at age 80.
In over 60 years in movies, theater and television, Simmons had an innocent, refined girlish quality that, to me, set her apart from the other beauties of her day. I first remember her either later in her career on TV where she [...]

Eric Rohmer – filmmaker, critic: 1920 – 2010

Eric Rohmer, one of the giants of international cinema has died at the age of 89.
Editor of Cahiers du cinema between 1957 and 1963, he was perhaps the least overtly radical of all the filmmakers who comprised the French New Wave though no less important. He made his first big international splash with My Night [...]

Brittany Murphy, Actress: 1977 – 2009

Actress Brittany Murphy, best known for her roles in Clueless, Girl Interrupted, 8 Mile and as the voice of Luanne in TV’s animated King of the Hill died in Los Angeles this morning at the age of 32.
It’s always extra sad when someone dies so young.
A cause of death has not been confirmed at this [...]

Dan O’Bannon, Screenwriter: 1946 – 2009

Sad news tonight for sci-fi fans as AICN reports the passing of Dan O’Bannon, the man best known for co-writing the story and screenplay behind Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi flick Alien.
In addition to writing Alien, the USC grad worked on all aspects of John Carpenter’s first film Dark Star (he even played the lead), he [...]