Category: Deaths

Dominick Dunne, R.I.P.

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Author  and Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne has passed away at 83 in Manhattan. His son, actor Griffin Dunne, released  a statement to Vanity Fair that the cause of death was bladder cancer. He wrote extensively about the O.J. Simpson trial and the impeachment of President Clinton. His daughter, actress  Dominique Dunne of the original ‘Poltergeist’ film, was murdered by her boyfriend in 1982 and Dunne was a very vocal supporter of Victim’s Rights. Dominick Dunne was part of a  well-known family that included his screenwriter brother John Gregory Dunne, his brother’s wife, author Joan Didion and  is survived by his sons Griffin Dunne and Alex Dunne and one granddaughter.

For more on the life of Dunne, read the full Vanity Fair article here.

Chicago Guy: “Life Moves Pretty Fast…”

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“… You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Good advice. Sadly, Hollywood lost one of it’s seminal scribes last week in John Hughes, screenwriter and director of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and several other classics of ’80’s cinema.

I have a confession to make, however. I never considered myself a big fan of John Hughes. Perhaps because I was still so young in the ’80’s, I missed the Hughes-mania. I had yet to start kindegarten when Ferris Bueller was taking his ninth sick day of the semester. I had about three candles on my birthday cake when Samantha was lamenting her forgotten Sixteen.

And to make matters worse, I’ve had a minor bone to pick with Hughes for quite some time. I finally saw The Breakfast Club in high school, in the late ’90’s, and I remember being very upset: as Brian Johnson, aka the Geek, reads their final essay, we see the Rebel get the Princess, the Jock get the newly-beautified Freak, and who does the Geek get? The PAPER. As a self-proclaimed geek, then and now, I feel a bit slighted. Hughes spends the whole movie breaking down stereotypes, only to reinforce this one at the final moment?

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I know what you’re thinking: SACRILEGE! BLASPHEMY! HERESY! Well, put down the ropes and the torches and hear me out.

Despite my few misgivings, the simple truth is this: John Hughes owned the ’80’s and early ’90’s. He was to movies what Rick Springfield and Rick Astley were to music. He defined the term “teen comedy”. The Brat Pack can thank him for their entire careers. His collaborations with John Candy (Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors, and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles) were some of the best of Candy’s career. Or how about his more family-oriented fare, such as the Home Alone or Beethoven franchises? Or, the National Lampoon’s Vacation series?

An entire generation grew up adoring his characters. The rebels all wanted to be John Bender, the class clowns idolized Ferris Bueller, and the princesses could choose from a host of Molly Ringwald incarnations. Very rarely can you say that one person’s style sums up an entire decade, but Hughes was just that: the cinematic epitome of the “Me” Decade. Love him or hate him, the movie world will never forget him. RIP, John Hughes.

John Hughes dies at age 59

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Filmmaker John Hughes died at the age of 59 today in New York. Hughes suffered a heart attack while talking his morning walk. He was visiting family in Manhattan at the time.John Hughes is survived by his wife of 39 years Nancy, his two sons John and James and four grandchildren.

John Hughes was darn near that of a filmmaking God to movie geeks, and just teenagers in general, of my generation. Hughes’ films defined our generation, putting our lives up on the big screen. Hughes was a Chicago-based filmmaker, so he had a special place in the hearts of us in the Midwest as well.

Hughes’ films included an extensive laundry list of extremely popular hits that remain favorite for today’s generations as well, standing strong against the test of time. Some of these films include SIXTEEN CANDLES, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, WEIRD SCIENCE and FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF. Later on, he would make more adult-oriented films that still offered a similar sense of humor, such as PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, SHE’S HAVING A BABY and UNCLE BUCK.

Hughes was also a very successful writer, with two of his most popular works being National Lampoon’s VACATION and HOME ALONE, which held the box office record for many years. Hughes’ last writing to hit the big screen was DRILLBIT TAYLOR (2008). He will truly be missed by those of us who remember the 80’s all too well and I encourage any younger generations who are not familiar with his work to rush out and discover why his movies are so loved. I promise, you will not be disappointed!

Source: Hollywood Reporter

R.I.P. Walter Cronkite

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The “Most Trusted Man in America,” Walter Cronkite, passed away on Friday night.

CBS released this statement:

Walter Cronkite, who personified television journalism for more than a generation as anchor and managing editor of the “CBS Evening News,” has died. CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. Friday with his family by his side at his home in New York after a long illness. He was 92….He broke the news of the Kennedy assassination, reported extensively on Vietnam and Civil Rights and Watergate, and seemed to be the very embodiment of TV journalism.

Back in the mid 80’s and  90’s, I was a Newscast Director for a local CBS affiliate in the Northwest. By the time I joined KBCI Channel 2,  Dan Rather had taken over as the main anchor of the CBS Evening News, but Walter Cronkite’s inestimable presence was forever there. The video below serves as a testament to Cronkite’s passion for NASA and the first Moon mission. He  said himself, “the conquest of Space is one of the great stories of the 20th Century.” 40 years ago, Cronkite stayed on the air for 27 hours of the 30 hours  it took for  Apollo 11 to reach the Moon.

CBS  finished their fine tribute with:

As Cronkite said on March 6, 1981, concluding his final broadcast as anchorman: “Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away, they just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is.”

Click here to watch Walter Cronkite’s enthusiatic  story of the Apollo 11 Mission.

Karl Malden Dies at 97

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Academy Award winner Karl Malden has passed away.   The veteran actor was 97.   Malden died of natural causes in his home in Brentwood surrounded by his family.

Born Mladen George Sekulovich in Chicago, IL and raised in Gary, IN, Malden began his acting career at the Goodman Theater Dramatic School.   He made his feature film debut in 1940 in ‘They Knew What They Wanted,’ which starred Charles Laughton and Carole Lombard.

11 years and 8 films later, Malden received his first Oscar nomination for his turn as Harold ‘Mitch’ Mitchell in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’   Malden won the Oscar for that film for Best Supporting Actor.   He would receive a second nomination three years later for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ‘On the Waterfront.’

In 1971, Malden would accept the Academy Award for Best Director on behalf of Franklin J. Schaffner who won the award for ‘Patton.’   Malden was featured in ‘Patton’ as General Omar N. Bradley.

Malden went on to receive nominations three times for a Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture Actor in a Drama for 1956’s ‘Baby Doll,’ Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical or Comedy for 1962’s ‘Gypsy,’ and Best TV Actor in a Drama for “The Streets of San Francisco.”   Along with that nominations, Karl Malden also received four consecutive Emmy nominations for his role in “The Streets of San Francisco.”   The Emmy would finally come to him in 1985 for his role in the made-for-TV drama ‘Fatal Vision.’

In 2004, Malden received the Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actor’s Guild.   Malden’s Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can be found at 6231 Hollywood Blvd.

Karl Malden, in 1938, married Mona Greenberg.   The two were married up until the time of his death, making their marriage one of the longest in Hollywood history.   The Maldens have two daughters, Mila and Carla.   Karl and Carla co-wrote his autobiography, When Do I Start?, published in 1997.

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Billy Mays dies at age 50

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Before you go and start poking fun, let’s be serious. Billy Mays, the undisputed King of the Infomercial, has died today at the age of 50. His body was found by his wife this morning inside their home in Tampa, Florida. Mays was a passenger on a US Airways flight recently that blew out it’s tires resulting in a hard landing in which Mays allegedly incurred head injuries from items falling from overhead compartments. There is no word yet on whether this was somehow connected to his death this morning, whereas there was no sign of forced entry at his home and foul play is not suspected.

Mays never did any acting work in TV or film, but he had become a household name and especially a familiar, if not iconic face to Americans watching television. Billy Mays built a successful career out taking creative products invented by everyday people and stepping them up a notch and promoting them on paid television informercials. The recent success and popularity of the Discovery Channel’s show ‘Pitchmen’ threw Mays and co-star/colleague Anthony Sullivan even further into the spotlight, chronicling the life of TV pitchmen.

Hands down, Billy Mays was the best at what he does. I wanted to show a little respect for a man passionate about his work, that’s not entirely removed from the television and motion picture work we here at WAMG love so dearly. With the recent passing of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, I felt compelled to spread the love to Mr. Mays as well. So, next time you’re sprinkling that OxiClean on that dirty laundry, remember who introduced you to that and so many other great products and helped many inventors’ dreams come true.

[source: NPR News, FoxNews.com]

David Carradine RIP 1936-2009

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This morning reports are coming out that ‘Kung Fu’ star David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel room. Fox News, and BBC are both confirmed this with his Manager. Here is a snippit from Fox:

Chuck Binder said Carradine, 73, was staying in Bangkok while shooting a movie. The film crew became aware of his absence when they went to dine out at a restaurant yesterday. When a producer went to his room, he discovered that the actor had died.

Here is a brief career synopsis from Wiki:

Carradine was known for his roles as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series Kung Fu (as well as the sequels in the 1980s and 1990s), as well as ‘Big’ Bill Shelly in Martin Scorsese’s Boxcar Bertha (1972), folksinger Woody Guthrie in Bound for Glory (1976), Abel Rosenberg in Ingmar Bergman’s The Serpent’s Egg (1977), and as Bill in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Vols. 1 & 2 (2003, 2004, respectively).

RIP Mr Carradine, we will all miss you.

**UPDATE**

The Huffington Post is has found details that it was an apparent suicide, as he was found hanged in his hotel room. A Asian newspaper gives this:

“Kung Fu” and “Kill Bill” star David Carradine was found hung himself [sic] in a closet in a hotel room in Bangkok on Wednesday, Thai police said.

Police believed he committed suicide.

Carradine, 72, was in Bangkok to shoot a movie and stayed at a Suite Room 352 of the Park Nai Lert Hotel on Wireless Road since June 2.

Wow, that is not expected at all!

Dom DeLuise dies at age 75

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According to TMZ, Comedian/Actor Dom DeLuise passed away last night at a Los Angeles hospital. He was best known for his hilarious turns in Mel Brooks’ ‘Blazing Saddles,’ ‘History Of The World: Part One,’ & ‘Spaceballs,’ and co-starred with Burt Reynolds in ‘Cannonball Run,’ and ‘Smokey and The Bandit 2.’

Dom DeLuise was 75. Sad news – RIP.

Just a look at the comedic genius at work in ‘Blazing Saddles.’

Actress Marilyn Chambers dies at age 56

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Actress Marilyn Chambers was found dead at her Los Angeles home late Sunday night at the age of 56. The adult film star’s real name was Marilyn Taylor, but made a name for herself in the adult entertainment business with a few firsts, including her starring role in ‘Behind the Green Door’, one of the earliest pornographic films to receive a wide theatrical release in the United States. She was also one of the first adult stars to be portrayed having interracial sex, causing an uproar amidst critics, prudes and racists. So, it sort of makes her a champion of civil rights. In all seriousness though, Chambers will be missed by Movie Geeks across the globe who remember her starring role as Rose in David Cronenberg’s 1977 classic horror film ‘Rabid’. The Los Angeles Coroner’s office say an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.

[source: Reuters]