dippindotsguy8 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 It is a bad day for fans of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi movies. Christopher Lee has died of heart failure and respiratory problems. He was 93. Many of you know him, of course, as Saruman in the Peter Jasckson's Tolkien movies, or perhaps as Count Dooku in Star Wars. When I was a kid, he (along with Bela Lugosi) was . . . DRACULA! yeah the part I find mist disquieting are those who seem to be truly unprepared. . the man was in his 90's! but I do believe while packing for our trip this weekend, we'll be having an in-memoriam "Hammer-Castle" film marathon in his honor. I agree, it's nowhere near as shocking as when we lose someone much younger. At the same time, he was still somewhat active in both film and music, and I think people just figured he was doing fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 the part I find mist disquieting are those who seem to be truly unprepared. . the man was in his 90's! It's because he was dracula! He should have lived forever! He was definitely near the top of my book for actors. He'll be missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 I remember them saying that when the filmed the Hobbit trilogy they did all his scenes early on for all three movies. RIP Dracula Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Just found out. Always enjoyed his original movies, and then later on in the decades, how he was able to entertain in new and different characters (Star Wars, LOTR). I often thought if would have been interesting if Tim Burton had cast him as Bela Lugosi (irony!) in Ed Wood, rather than Martin Balsam. But that's ok. Balsam was amazing, and Lee will be forever remembered by millions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Just found out. Always enjoyed his original movies, and then later on in the decades, how he was able to entertain in new and different characters (Star Wars, LOTR). I often thought if would have been interesting if Tim Burton had cast him as Bela Lugosi (irony!) in Ed Wood, rather than Martin Balsam. But that's ok. Balsam was amazing, and Lee will be forever remembered by millions. I take it you mean Martin Landau. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bert425 Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 Just found out. Always enjoyed his original movies, and then later on in the decades, how he was able to entertain in new and different characters (Star Wars, LOTR). I often thought if would have been interesting if Tim Burton had cast him as Bela Lugosi (irony!) in Ed Wood, rather than Martin Balsam. But that's ok. Balsam was amazing, and Lee will be forever remembered by millions. I take it you mean Martin Landau. it's pronounced different in Canada! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 ^Oh, you wacky Canadians! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 11, 2015 Share Posted June 11, 2015 ^ Martin something-er-other. THIS is Martin Balsam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 And just found out now, Ron Moody has left us to "pick other pockets or two" in the great beyond.... Original Fagin in Oliver! - onstage in London, then in the 1968 Oscar winning film. He was 91. And in 1969 he turned down the part of Doctor Who! He scared me at age 15! A sweet, sweet man, those who worked with him, are saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottiemon Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 With a look like that, he would have made a great Master! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) Ron Moody was an excellent actor. He was also very funny in Mel Brooks's The Twelve Chairs. Here he is with Frank Langella. Edited June 12, 2015 by cfc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayTheGForceBeWithYou Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Well, Hollywood just lost one of its best composers: James Horner, the consummate film composer known for his heart-tugging scores for Field of Dreams, Braveheart and Titanic, for which he won two Academy Awards, died Monday in a plane crash near Santa Barbara. He was 61. His death was confirmed by Sylvia Patrycja, who is identified on Horner's film music page as his assistant. "We have lost an amazing person with a huge heart and unbelievable talent," Patrycja wrote on Facebook on Monday. "He died doing what he loved. Thank you for all your support and love and see you down the road." Horner was piloting the small aircraft when it crashed into a remote area about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara, officials said. An earlier report noted that the plane, which was registered to the composer, had gone down, but the pilot had not been identified. For his work on the 1997 best picture winner Titanic, directed by James Cameron, Horner captured the Oscar for original dramatic score, and he nabbed another Academy Award for original song (shared with lyricist Will Jennings) for “My Heart Will Go On,” performed by Celine Dion. “My job — and it’s something I discuss with Jim all the time — is to make sure at every turn of the film it’s something the audience can feel with their heart,” Horner said in a 2009 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “When we lose a character, when somebody wins, when somebody loses, when someone disappears — at all times I’m keeping track, constantly, of what the heart is supposed to be feeling. That is my primary role.” His score for Titanic sold a whopping 27 million copies worldwide. His fruitful partnership with Cameron also netted him Oscar noms for original score for the blockbusters Aliens (1986) and Avatar (2009). The pair reportedly were also at work on Avatar sequels. The Los Angeles native earned 10 Oscar noms in all, also being recognized for his work on two other best picture winners: Braveheart (1995) and A Beautiful Mind (2001). He also received noms for An American Tail (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Apollo 13 (1995) and House of Sand and Fog (2003). Always busy, Horner has three films coming out soon: Southpaw, the boxing drama that stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams and is due in theaters in July; Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Wolf Totem, out in September; and The 33, a drama based on the 2010 mining disaster in Chile that’s set for November. His lengthy film résumé includes The Lady in Red (1979), Wolfen (1981), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1983), Red Heat (1988), Glory (1989), The Rocketeer (1991), Patriot Games (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Jumanji (1995), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Troy (2004) and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012). (SOURCE) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 ^ Just heard about it on the radio. RIP JH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Another to add, sadly... Dick Van Patten, of the "Eight Is Enough" tv series. And other films and stage, and TONS of television, as well. He also founded Natural Balance Pet Food, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zack44 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I would just like to point out that today is the 6th anniversary of the death of the one and only King of Pop. 1958-2009 We'll always miss you MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Patrick Macnee, John Steed on the classic British TV series The Avengers (no relation to Marvel's Avengers, of course) died recently at the age of 93. This show, which was MUCH better than the lousy movie with Ralph Finnes from a few years ago, was one of the signposts of popular culture in the 1960s--and a big influence on the Austin Powers flicks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0YOlU3SMgs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottiemon Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 Bass player extraordinaire Chris Squire from Yes has passed away from a rare form of leukemia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 ^ Sorry to hear. A live YES concert, back in the mid-1970s, was a definite highlight in my (then) young life. And I will always remember the lasers during the show - all green! And with mirrors, the whole thing was a amazing! RIP CS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Actor Omar Sharif, best known for his roles in classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, has died aged 83.Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia. He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago. Earlier this year, his agent confirmed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. His agent Steve Kenis said: "He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo." Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, who appeared with Sharif in 1999 film The 13th Warrior, remembered him on Twitter as "one of the best". "He was a great storyteller, a loyal friend and a wise spirit." Sharif started his career in Egyptian cinema in the 1950s Born Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria in April 1932, Sharif started out in his family's lumber business before going to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada). He made his screen debut in the 1954 Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun) and rapidly became a star in his own country. His big break came when David Lean cast him in Lawrence of Arabia, introducing the actor with a now-legendary shot of him riding a camel out of a shimmering heat haze towards the camera. Peter O'Toole, who played TE Lawrence in the 1962 multiple Oscar-winner, considered Sharif's name ridiculous and insisted on calling him "Fred". The pair soon became fast friends. Julie Christie played Sharif's leading lady in Doctor Zhivago In later life Sharif claimed to be baffled by the film's success, saying it had merely been shots of people on camels walking from one side of the screen to the other. David Lean went on to cast Sharif in the title role of his next epic Doctor Zhivago, in which he played a physician caught up in the Russian Revolution. The actor went through a daily routine of hair-straightening and skin-waxing in order to disguise his Egyptian looks and would later admit the film had left him close to a nervous breakdown. Other notable roles came opposite Barbra Streisand in her first film Funny Girl and as Julie Andrews' lover in spy thriller The Tamarind Seed. He also got to play a series of real-life figures, among them Genghis Khan and the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara. After his initial stint in the spotlight, Sharif would come to be seen more frequently at the gaming tables than the Hollywood soundstage. He became particularly successful at bridge and was ranked among the world's best players. His film roles became increasingly sporadic, and those he did accept were in films he would later dismiss as "rubbish". In the late 1990s Sharif began declining film offers, claiming he had lost his "self-respect and dignity". He won a Career Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2003 One film he did accept was 2003 French drama Monsieur Ibraham, in which he appeared as a Muslim shopkeeper in Paris who adopts a Jewish boy. The film won him the Cesar, the French equivalent of the Oscar, as well as some of his best reviews in decades. Sharif suffered a public embarrassment in 2007 after punching a parking valet who refused to accept his European currency. The actor pleaded no contest to misdemeanour battery and was ordered to take an anger management course. Sharif spent much of his later years in Cairo and at the Royal Moncean Hotel in Paris, though he occasionally travelled to Hull to support his favourite football team, Hull City. The actor, who was introduced to the Tigers by his Doctor Zhivago co-star Sir Tom Courtenay, was given an honorary degree by the University of Hull in 2010 as a reward for his loyalty. He retreated from the spotlight after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Earlier this year his agent confirmed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease after his son Tarek gave an interview in which he discussed his father's deteriorating condition. "He still knows he's a famous actor," Tarek El-Sharif told Spain's El Mundo newspapaer. "He remembers, for example, [he was in] Doctor Zhivago but he's forgotten when it was filmed." Following the announcement of Sharif's death, his grandson Omar Sharif Jr posted a picture of him on Facebook with the simple caption: "I love you." He later offered thanks "for the global outpouring of prayers and support" his family had received, adding: "I will miss my grandfather dearly." www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33483877 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 ^Didn't even know he was still alive. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 And let's not forget his quintessential role in Top Secret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 You'll always be "Nicky Arnstein, Nicky Arnstein" to me, Mr. Sharif. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 (edited) While maybe not a TV or Film celeb that everyone may know, this guy pretty much is responsible for a lot of the video games world we know today. http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/07/nintendos-president-satoru-iwata-has-passed-away/ Nintendo has just issued a short statement announcing that president Satoru Iwata has passed away at the age of 55. The statement reads: Nintendo Co., Ltd. deeply regrets to announce that President Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11, 2015 due to a bile duct growth. Iwata was forced to skip last year’s E3 due to his poor health, and shortly afterwards underwent surgery to remove the bile duct growth. Iwata first joined Nintendo’s HAL Laboratory in the 1980s, where he worked on games like Balloon Fight and EarthBound. He became a Director of the company in 2000, and in 2002 was appointed as only the fourth President of Nintendo when he succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi. In his time as President, Iwata oversaw some of the strongest (Wii, DS) and weakest (GameCube, Wii U) periods in Nintendo’s history as a video game company. In recent times, he developed almost cult status as the host of the Nintendo Direct programs. An immensely popular figure both within the industry and with Nintendo fans, he will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace, Mr. Iwata. Edited July 13, 2015 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Wow, such a young age. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and close loved ones and friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garet Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 So many games he had a hand in: http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Satoru_Iwata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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