Obit – Page 2 – We Are Movie Geeks

Oscar-winning animation legend Richard Williams (1933-2019)

Word spread quickly this past Saturday through the world’s animation news outlets, word of the loss of one of the true innovators and greatest masters of the art form. Here’s how Variety reported his passing:

“Renowned animator Richard Williams, best known for his work on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” died Friday at his home in Bristol, England, Variety has confirmed. He was 86.

Williams was a distinguished animator, director, producer, author and teacher whose work has garnered three Oscars and three BAFTA Awards. In addition to his groundbreaking work as the animation director of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” Williams also animated the title sequences for the “Pink Panther” franchise and received critical acclaim for his first film “The Little Island” in 1958 and his animated adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” in 1971, for which he won his first Oscar.”

While many sources called him the creator of Roger Rabbit, a character actually created by novelist Gary K.Wolfe, it was Williams who brought the bungling bunny along with his pals and the population of “Toon Town’ to vivid life in the 1988 box office smash. Though this may be his most popular work, Williams was a most prolific artist in commercials, television, and feature films, making truly dazzling, whimsical title sequences for several 1960s classics beginning with WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT.

His art also extended to more dramatic fare, seen here in the newspaper editorial cartoon-inspired work on the 1968 THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.

Three years later Williams received his first Oscar for his animated adaptation (seen on ABC-TV in the US) of A CHRISTMAS CAROL in a style evoking the pen and ink illustrations of the late 1800s (and using feature film Scrooge Alistair Sim).

And during the production of these classics, Williams was toiling away (in his spare time and on his “own dime”) on his epic project, a feature based on an Arabian Nights tale, THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER. But to help finance this, Williams returned to feature titles and created a sensation in the first two films the kicked off the revival of the Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers comedy series in 1975’s THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER (Looney Tunes icon Friz Freeling had animated the Panther in the first 1960’s entry). Here’s some great movie-themed gags in 1976 follow-up…

Then in 1977 Williams would release his first full-length animated feature, not COBBLER, but the more “kid-friendly” RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE.

Nearly ten years would pass until Steven Spielberg tapped Williams and his London-based studio to create (or re-create) the look of classic 1940s Hollywood Studio animation for the comedy/fantasy hit WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Mr. Williams even lent his voice to Tex Avery’s MGM superstar Droopy (“Goooing up, sir?”). For his remarkable achievements, he earned another Oscar.

Of course, Williams poured a good chunk of his ROGER earnings into COBBLER, but due to financial conflicts, the not-quite-completed feature would be taken from him, heavily edited, re-dubbed, and combined with, to put it mildly, less polished animation. After a limited release by Miramax pictures as ARABIAN KNIGHT, it would see a home video release in 1993 under its original title. Despite these disappointments, Williams continued to inspire with the acclaimed book “The Animator’s Survival Kit” in 2002, and the shorts CIRCUS DRAWINGS and 2015’s PROLOGUE (which was nominated for an Oscar).

And now Richard Williams joins Walt Disney and his “nine old men”, the Fleischers, and the titans of Looney Tunes’ “Termite Terrace” as one of the medium’s greatest craftsmen and a true animation legend, whose work will be studied and admired forever.

Doris Day Dies At Age 97

For fans of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the news from California this Monday morning hit hard, like the sudden loss of a treasured longtime friend (or for many that “girlfriend next door”).

Here’s how E! Online reported her passing:

Hollywood has lost a beloved legend.

Doris Day, the actress and singer who personified classic Hollywood in the ’50s and ’60s, has died, the Doris Day Animal Foundation announced on Monday. According to the foundation, Day died at her Carmel Valley, Calif. home early Monday while surrounded by a few close friends.

“Day had been in excellent physical health for her age, until recently contracting a serious case of pneumonia, resulting in her death,” the foundation said in a public statement. Day was 97 years old, recently celebrating her birthday on April 3.

For 20 years, 1948 to 1968, Ms. Day was a staple of movie theatres. A few years ago I included her in my list (at #8) of “Funny Ladies of the Movies”. Here’s that overview of her comedy work:

And now you’re thinking, “The ‘Que Sara Sara’ singer? Huh?”. Yes, she is a very popular singer, but Ms. Day is a very prolific film actress. She’s done many dramas and thrillers (she worked with Hitchcock!), but the films that made her the number one female box office draw from 1960 to 64 were comedies. Sure she was ably assisted by the aforementioned Ms. Ritter and the great Tony Randall, but “America’s sweetheart” generated lots of laughs (many at the expense of her film persona). When Warner Brothers signed the freckled-faced blonde to a contract in the late 40’s she was the love interest to Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan in crowd-pleasers like ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS, MY DREAM IS YOURS, and IT’S A GREAT FEELING. Several frothy music flicks followed until Day finally got to show her comic gifts as CALAMITY JANE. After her WB contract ended, she had her biggest success opposite “Mr. Beefcake” Rock Hudson in PILLOW TALK (she got an Oscar nom, too). They reteamed twice more for LOVER COME BACK and SEND ME NO FLOWERS. But Day also had wonderful comic chemistry with an amazing variety of the era’s charismatic leading men. There were stars of the golden age like Clark Gable (TEACHER’S PET) and Cary Grant (THAT TOUCH OF MINK) along with rising stars like Jack Lemmon (IT HAPPENED TO JANE), Rod Taylor (THE GLASS BOTTOM BOAT and DO NOT DISTURB), Richard Harris (CAPRICE), and the superb James Garner (MOVE OVER DARLING and the Carl Reiner scripted THE THRILL OF IT ALL). While starring on TV in the sitcom “The Doris Day Show”, Ms. Day wrapped up her feature film career opposite George Carlin and Brian Keith in WITH SIX YOU GET EGGROLL in 1968.

Oh, but Miss Day was a versatile actress, who regularly ventured into dramatic fare. Just a couple of years into her film career she co-starred YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN as the devoted girlfriend of trumpeter Kirk Douglas. Soon after she was the wife of a Klansman (!) in STORM WARNING. Day was another devoted wife, this time to real-life St. Louis Cardinals’ pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, played by future president Ronald Reagan! She even worked with the “master of suspense” Alfred Hitchcock on his remake of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, co-starring James Stewart and introduced the tune that would become her “signature song” “Que Sara Sara” (it nabbed an Oscar). Another thriller followed when Day was menaced by a deranged Louis Jordan as the title character in JULIE. Four years later she was threatened again in the London-based (cue the fog) MIDNIGHT LACE.

Here’s one of her last audio interviews with TCM host, the late Robert Osburne:

Speaking of that wonderful cable channel, here’s the info on their tribute to her (set the DVR):

TCM Remembers Doris Day – Sunday June 9

6:00 a.m. Romance on the High Seas (1948) – A singer on a Caribbean cruise gets mixed up in a series of romantic problems.
8:00 a.m. My Dream Is Yours (1949) – A talent scout turns a young unknown into a radio singing star.
10:00 a.m. Tea For Two (1950) – An heiress has to say no to every question for 24 hours if she wants to star on Broadway.
11:45 a.m. On Moonlight Bay (1951)– A small-town tomboy falls for the boy-next-door in the years before World War I.
1:30 p.m. Carson on TCM: Doris Day (1976)– Doris Day joined Johnny to discuss why she decided to set the record straight about her life and write her autobiography. She shot down her screen image as a virgin (which she found boring), revealed why she never wanted to be an actress, and why she thought that couples should live together before marriage.
1:45 p.m. Love Me or Leave Me (1955)– True story of torch singer Ruth Etting’s struggle to escape the gangster who made her a star.
4:00 p.m. Calamity Jane (1953)– The Wild West heroine helps bring a star attraction to Deadwood and finds love.
6:00 p.m. Please Don’t Eat the Daisies (1960) – A drama critic and his family try to adjust to life in the country.
8:00 p.m. Pillow Talk (1959) – A man and woman carry their feud over the telephone line they share into their real lives.
10:00 p.m. Lover Come Back (1961) – An ad exec in disguise courts his pretty female competitor.
12:00 a.m. Move Over Darling (1963) – Five years after a woman disappeared in the sea after a plane crash, her husband remarries and sets off to be with the new wife only to be confronted by the woman he had pronounced legally dead.
2:00 a.m. The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) – A woman writing a scientist’s biography is mistaken for a spy.
4:00 a.m. Julie (1956)– A stewardess is stalked by her psychotic estranged husband.

And so, another shining star is added to the heavens. Doris could make any day much brighter, thanks to her sunny smile and titanic talent. Speaking of which, let’s leave you with her stunning song stylings (she sold tons of movie tickets and records). Doris Day will continue to delight audiences for many years to come. But for now, as her song states, “What will be, will be”.

Actress Betsy Palmer from FRIDAY THE 13th Dead at 88

“You see, Jason was my son, and today is his birthday…”

The woman had a long and distinguished career including hundreds of TV appearances in the 1950s and ’60s, but she will always best known as Jason’s mom in the original FRIDAY THE 13th (1980). Betsy Palmer was a regular on the horror convention circuit and a good attitude about her place in horror film history. She said in an interview once: “If it was good enough for Boris Karloff, why should I complain?” Betsy Palmer died Friday of natural causes at a hospital in Los Angeles.

From The Associated Press:

Betsy Palmer, the veteran character actress who achieved lasting, though not necessarily sought-after, fame as the murderous camp cook in the cheesy horror film “Friday the 13th,” has died at age 88.

Palmer died Friday of natural causes at a hospice care center in Connecticut, her longtime manager, Brad Lemack, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Palmer had appeared in films, on Broadway and in TV shows for decades before she took the role of Mrs. Voorhees in the campy 1980 movie in which young camp counselors suddenly begin meeting their bloody demise. The back story was that she was the mother of Jason Voorhees, who had died at the camp years before. He would come to life in several sequels that Palmer passed on.

She would say in later years that she only took the role in that first film because she wanted the money to buy a new car.

Palmer had appeared in numerous TV shows dating to the early 1950s Golden Age of Television. Among them were such classic dramas as “Kraft Theatre,” ”Playhouse 90″ and “Studio One.”

Her film credits included “Mr. Roberts” with Henry Fonda, “The Long Gray Line” with Tyrone Power and Maureen O’Hara, “Queen Bee” with Joan Crawford, and “The Tin Star” with Fonda and Anthony Perkins.

Other TV credits included “Knot’s Landing,” ”The Love Boat,” ”Newhart,” ”Just Shoot Me” and “Murder, She Wrote.” She also appeared in several Broadway plays, including “Same Time, Next Year” and “Cactus Flower.”

Palmer is survived by her daughter, Melissa Merendino.

Director-Actor Sir Richard Attenborough Dies at Age 90

BRIGHTON ROCK, THE SAND PEBBLES, THE GREAT ESCAPE. A giant of the cinema world has passed away.

Lord Richard Attenborough, the Oscar winning director/producer of GANDHI (1982), died on Sunday according to BBC News. “His son told the BBC that Lord Attenborough died at lunchtime.”

According to the BAFTA biography:

His directorial debut was a screen version of the hit musical OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR (1969) and later directed two epic period films: YOUNG WINSTON (1972) and A BRIDGE TOO FAR (1977). He won two BAFTAs and two Oscars in 1982 for producing and directing the historical epic, GANDHI, his life’s ambition. He received a BAFTA Fellowship in 1983.

His other films as director and producer include CHAPLIN (1992) and SHADOWLANDS (1993). Both films starred Anthony Hopkins, who appeared in another three films for Attenborough. He also directed the screen version of musical A CHORUS LINE (1985) and the apartheid drama CRY FREEDOM (1987). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director for both films. He also directed GREY OWL (1999) and CLOSING THE RING (2007).

Lord Attenborough played circus owner, Albert Blossom, in the 1967 version of DOCTOR DOLITTLE.

He took no acting roles after 1978, until his appearance in Steven Spielberg’s JURASSIC PARK (1993). The following year he starred in the remake of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1994) as well as ELIZABETH (1998) alongside Cate Blanchett.

Attenborough was elected the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ (BAFTA) fourth President.

Read his filmography HERE.

©AP

Actress Lauren Bacall Dies at 89

Another sad day in Hollywood…

From the AP:

Lauren Bacall, the slinky, sultry-voiced actress who created on-screen magic with Humphrey Bogart in “To Have and Have Not” and “The Big Sleep” and off-screen magic in one of Hollywood’s most storied marriages, died Tuesday at age 89.

Bacall, whose long career brought two Tonys and a special Oscar, died in New York. The managing partner of the Humphrey Bogart Estate, Robbert J.F. de Klerk, said that Bacall died at home, but declined to give further details. Bacall’s son Stephen Bogart confirmed his mother’s death to de Klerk.

She was among the last of the old-fashioned Hollywood stars and her legend, and the legend of “Bogie and Bacall” — the hard-boiled couple who could fight and make up with the best of them — started almost from the moment she appeared on screen. A fashion model and bit-part New York actress before moving to Hollywood at 19, Bacall achieved immediate fame in 1944 with one scene in her first film, “To Have and Have Not.”

Leaving Bogart’s hotel room, she murmured:

“You don’t have to say anything, and you don’t have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”

She was less than half Bogart’s age, yet as wise and as jaded as him. Her sly glance, with chin down and eyes raised, added to her fame; she was nicknamed “The Look.” Bogart and Bacall married amid headlines in 1945, and they co-starred in three more films, “The Big Sleep” (1946), “Dark Passage” (1947) and “Key Largo” (1948). Their marriage lasted until his death from cancer in 1957.

Read the Vanity Fair article HERE.

She appeared in movies for more than a half-century, but not until 1996 did she receive an Academy Award nomination — as supporting actress for her role as Barbra Streisand’s mother in “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” Although a sentimental favorite, she lost to Juliette Binoche for her performance in “The English Patient.”

She finally got a statuette in November 2009 when she was presented with a special Oscar at the movie academy’s new Governors Awards gala.

“The thought when I get home that I’m going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting,” she quipped.

Bacall was always a star. With her lanky figure and flowing blonde hair, she was seemingly born for checked suits and silk dresses. On television talk shows, she exhibited a persona that paralleled her screen appearances: She was frank, even blunt, with an undertone of sardonic humor, all of which she demonstrated in her best-selling 1979 autobiography, “By Myself,” which beat out works by William Saroyan among others for the National Book Award. (She published an updated version in 2005, “By Myself and Then Some,” noting that as she ages, “I don’t feel that different. But I sure as hell am.”)

When her movie career faded, she returned to the theater. She starred in the hit comedy “Cactus Flower” and stepped lively in “Applause,” a musical version of the classic movie “All About Eve” that brought her first Tony in 1970.

She got the second Tony in 1981 for “Woman of the Year,” based on a film that starred her idol, Katharine Hepburn. She enjoyed another triumph in London with “Sweet Bird of Youth” in 1985.

She was ever protective of the Bogart legacy, lashing out at those who tried to profit from his image. In 1997, she appeared at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood for ceremonies launching the U.S. Postal Service’s Humphrey Bogart stamp.

When the American Film Institute compiled its list of screen legends in 1999, Bacall ranked No. 20 on the roster of 25 actresses. Bogart topped the list of actors.

Oscar Winning Actor Robin Williams Dead At Age 63

82nd Annual Academy Awards/March 7, 2010 ©AMPAS

A huge talent is gone. Actor Robin Williams died Monday from an apparent suicide. He was 63.

“This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken,” said Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider. “On behalf of Robin’s family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions,”

Mara Buxbaum, his press representative, said, “He had been battling severe depression of late. This is a tragic and sudden loss.”

In his recent roles, Williams starred on CBS’s TV show “The Crazy Ones, ” his latest movie, THE ANGRIEST MAN IN BROOKLYN, was released in May and the actor was reportedly to be in talks to reprise his role as Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire in MRS DOUBTFIRE 2.

Williams recently acted in the upcoming British comedy ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING and MERRY FRIGGIN’ CHRISTMAS, while NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB, the 3rd chapter in the series, is scheduled to be released at the end of 2014.

facebook.com/RobinWilliams

The police dept. full statement is below.

On August 11, 2014, at approximately 11:55 a.m, Marin County Communications received a 9-1-1 telephone call reporting a male adult had been located unconscious and not breathing inside his residence in unincorporated Tiburon, CA. The Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Tiburon Fire Department and Southern Marin Fire Protection District were dispatched to the incident with emergency personnel arriving on scene at 12:00 pm. The male subject, pronounced deceased at 12:02 pm has been identified as Robin McLaurin Williams, a 63-year-old resident of unincorporated Tiburon, CA.

An investigation into the cause, manner, and circumstances of the death is currently underway by the Investigations and Coroner Divisions of the Sheriff’s Office. Preliminary information developed during the investigation indicates Mr. Williams was last seen alive at his residence, where he resides with his wife, at approximately 10:00 pm on August 10, 2014. Mr. Williams was located this morning shortly before the 9-1-1 call was placed to Marin County Communications. At this time, the Sheriff’s Office Coroner Division suspects the death to be a suicide due to asphyxia, but a comprehensive investigation must be completed before a final determination is made. A forensic examination is currently scheduled for August 12, 2014 with subsequent toxicology testing to be conducted.
(via THR)

From the AP:

From his breakthrough in the late 1970s as the alien in the hit TV show “Mork and Mindy,” (PILOT) through his standup act and such films as “Good Morning, Vietnam,” the short, barrel-chested Williams ranted and shouted as if just sprung from solitary confinement. Loud, fast, manic, he parodied everyone from John Wayne to Keith Richards, impersonating a Russian immigrant as easily as a pack of Nazi attack dogs.

He was a riot in drag in “Mrs. Doubtfire,” or as a cartoon genie in “Aladdin.” He won his Academy Award in a rare, but equally intense dramatic role, as a teacher in the 1997 film “Good Will Hunting.”

In 1992, Carson chose Williams and Bette Midler as his final guests.

Like so many funnymen, he had serious ambitions, winning his Oscar for his portrayal of an empathetic therapist in “Good Will Hunting.” He also played for tears in “Awakenings,” ”Dead Poets Society” and “What Dreams May Come,” something that led New York Times critic Stephen Holden to once say he dreaded seeing the actor’s “Humpty Dumpty grin and crinkly moist eyes.”

Williams also won three Golden Globes, for “Good Morning, Vietnam,” ”Mrs. Doubtfire” and “The Fisher King.”

His other film credits included Robert Altman’s “Popeye,” Paul Mazursky’s “Moscow on the Hudson,” Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” and Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry.” On stage, Williams joined fellow comedian Steve Martin in a 1988 Broadway revival of “Waiting for Godot.”

Actress and Activist Ruby Dee Dead at 91

Now she can join her long-time husband and acting partner Ossie Davis. Ruby Dee was Mother Sister, the old black woman who observes the neighborhood goings-ons from the window of her tenement in Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING in 1990. In 1950 she played the wife of Jackie Robinson opposite the ball player himself in THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY. Ruby Dee’s seven-decade career included triumphs and awards on stage, screen, print, and in the arena of civil rights. Her many movie credits credits included A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961), BUCK AND THE PREACHER (1972),and AMERICAN GANGSTER (2007) for which she received an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actress. Ruby Dee died today 91.

SAG-AFTRA Mourns the Loss of SAG Life Achievement Award Recipient Ruby Dee in this statement:

SAG-AFTRA today released the following statement on the death of actor, activist and SAG Life Achievement recipient Ruby Dee:

SAG-AFTRA mourns the loss of SAG Life Achievement Award recipient Ruby Dee, who died yesterday at the age of 91. The multitalented Dee distinguished herself as an actor, writer and activist and received the Life Achievement Award in 2000 with husband Ossie Davis. They were only the second husband-and-wife team to win the award, the other being Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in 1985. Dee was predeceased by Davis in 2005.

As she accepted the award, Dee spoke of the power of the acting profession.

“We are artists also, and workers above all. We are image-makers,” She said. “Why can’t we image-makers become peacemakers too? Why cannot we, in such a time as this, use all the magic of our vaunted powers to lift the pistol from the schoolboy’s backpack and replace it with bright images of peace, with images of hope and faith in humankind? Of life lit by some large vision of goodness and beauty and truth?”

“Ruby Dee was truly one of a kind. She was a woman who believed deeply in fairness, a conviction that motivated her lifelong efforts to advance civil rights,” said SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard. “The acting community — and the world — is a poorer place for her loss.”

From Variety:

Ruby Dee, best known for her role in 1961’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and latterly for her Oscar-nominated turn as Denzel Washington’s mother in 2007’s “American Gangster,” died Wednesday in New York. She was 91.

Dee’s Oscar nomination in 2008 for her performance as the feisty mother of a Harlem druglord played by Washington in Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster” was particularly impressive because the actress made an impression on the Motion Picture Academy with only 10 minutes of screen time. She won a SAG Award for the same performance.

Dee also won an Emmy in 1991 for her performance in the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie “Decoration Day.”

She and her husband, Ossie Davis, who often performed together, were among the first generation of African-American actors, led by Sidney Poitier, afforded the opportunity for significant, dignified dramatic roles in films, onstage and on television…….

Read the rest HERE

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/oscar-nominated-actress-ruby-dee-dies-at-91-1201219148/

Richard Dawson Of THE RUNNING MAN Dead At 79

Actor, game show host Richard Dawson has passed away. According to TMZ, Dawson’s son, Gary Dawson, initially broke the news on Facebook:

“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my father passed away this evening from complications due to esophageal cancer. He was surrounded by his family. He was an amazing talent, a loving husband, a great dad, and a doting grandfather. He will be missed but always remembered…”

A fan favorite, THE RUNNING MAN wouldn’t have been the same without Dawson’s spot on portrayal of evil host Damon Killian. One of our readers says it best, “He was awesome on Family Feud and no less than iconic on Running Man. He MADE that movie! Throwing him a T.V. kiss for the journey home. RIP Mr. Dawson.”

From the AP:

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s TV comedy “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.

Dawson, also known to TV fans as the Cockney prisoner-of-war Cpl. Peter Newkirk on “Hogan’s Heroes,” died Saturday night from complications related to esophageal cancer at Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital, his son Gary said.

The game show, which initially ran from 1976 to 1985, pitted families who tried to guess the most popular answers to poll questions such as “What do people give up when they go on a diet?”

Dawson won a daytime Emmy Award in 1978 as best TV game show host. Tom Shales of The Washington Post called him “the fastest, brightest and most beguilingly caustic interlocutor since the late great Groucho bantered and parried on `You Bet Your Life.'” The show was so popular it was released as both daytime and syndicated evening versions.

He was known for kissing each woman contestant, and at the time the show bowed out in 1985, executive producer Howard Felsher estimated that Dawson had kissed “somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000.”

“I kissed them for luck and love, that’s all,” Dawson said at the time.

He reprised his game show character in a much darker mood in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film “The Running Man,” playing the host of a deadly TV show set in a totalitarian future, where convicts try to escape as their executioners stalk them. “Saturday Night Live” mocked him in the 1970s, with Bill Murray portraying him as leering and nasty, even slapping one contestant (John Belushi) for getting too fresh.

The British-born actor already had gained fame as the fast-talking Newkirk in “Hogan’s Heroes,” the CBS comedy about prisoners in a Nazi POW camp who hoodwink their captors and run the place themselves.

Despite its unlikely premise, the show made the ratings top 10 in its first season, 1965-66, and ran until 1971.

Both “Hogan’s Heroes” and “Family Feud” have had a second life in recent years, the former on DVD reissues and the latter on cable television’s GSN, formerly known as the Game Show Network.

On Dawson’s last “Family Feud” in 1985, the studio audience honored him with a standing ovation, and he responded: “Please sit down. I have to do at least 30 minutes of fun and laughter and you make me want to cry.”

“I’ve had the most incredible luck in my career,” he told viewers.

“I never dreamed I would have a job in which so many people could touch me and I could touch them,” he said. That triggered an unexpected laugh.

Producers brought out “The New Family Feud,” starring comedian Ray Combs, in 1988. Six years later, Dawson replaced Combs at the helm, but that lasted only one season.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Dawson was born Colin Lionel Emm in 1932 in Gosport, England. His first wife was actress Diana Dors, the blond bombshell who was Britain’s answer to Marilyn Monroe.

RIP Leslie Nielsen

“A hospital? What is it?” “It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.”

“Surely you can’t be serious.” “I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

Sad news tonight readers. Leslie Nielsen has passed away.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Leslie Nielsen, the actor best known for starring in such comedies as Airplane! and the Naked Gun film franchise, died Sunday of complications from pneumonia at a hospital near his home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He was 84.

“We are sadden by the passing of beloved actor Leslie Nielsen, probably best remembered as Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun series of pictures, but who enjoyed a more than 60-year career in motion pictures and television,” said a statement from Nielsen’s family released through his rep.

Nielsen was born Feb. 11, 1926, in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His acting career spanned several decades, starting in the 1950s with episodes of series including The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse and Tales of Tomorrow and encompassing several genres. But he became known in later years for his deadpan delivery in comedies featuring absurd situations, including 1980s’s Airplane!, a parody of Zero Hour!, Airport and other movies about flying.

After Airplane! became a hit, the film’s directors — Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker — wanted to take the film’s slapstick style of comedy to TV. They asked Nielsen to play the lead role in their new series Police Squad!

In the show, Nielsen played Frank Drebin, a stereotypical police officer modeled after characters in earlier police TV series. The show lasted only six episodes but earned Nielsen an Emmy nom for lead actor in a comedy series.

Six years later, Nielsen reprised his role for a feature-length version of the show, Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad, as well as two sequels.

Other credits include 1956’s Forbidden Planet, the 1960s TV series Peyton Place, Dr. Kildare and The Bold Ones: The Protectors. In more recent years, he starred as the title character in 1997’s Mr. Magoo and appeared in the parodies Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006) and Superhero Movie (2008).

In lieu of flowers, Nielsen’s family is asking that donations be made in his name “to the charity of your choice.”

Thanks for all the laughs sir. Here’s a video of the comedic genius at work.

Corey Haim Dies at 38

Part of reporting news and events in and surrounding the film industry is always hard when reporting someone has passed away. It makes the job even harder when it is someone so young and who had so much promise earlier in their career. Corey Haim is one such tragedy. The child star has passed away at 38.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, Haim passed away at 3:30 this morning from an apparent drug overdose. Haim’s history with substance abuse has been ongoing for years. According to the LAPD, he was with his mother when he passed away.

Haim made his way into the business at 13, first appearing in the 1984 film FIRSTBORN and the TV series, “The Edison Twins.” He garnered notoriety in 1985 with the Steven King adaptation, SILVER BULLET, and in the 1986 film, LUCAS. In 1987, he co-starred for the first time with Corey Feldman in Joel Schumacher’s THE LOST BOYS. It would be the first of several films the two Coreys appeared together in, including LICENSE TO DRIVE and DREAM A LITTLE DREAM.

Due to Haim’s ongoing issue with addiction, he and Feldman became distant. In 2007, they agreed to the reality series “The Two Coreys.” In 2008, Haim ran a Variety ad stating: “I’m back. I’m ready to work. I’m ready to make amends.” He continued to battle with addiction, and, ultimately, A&E canceled the series after two seasons.

Haim was last seen in a cameo appearance in 2008’s LOST BOYS: THE TRIBE, and in a bit part in last year’s CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE.

It’s the crashes we see coming that are oftentimes hardest to take. It is sad that such a young man has passed away, but the force of it is even more of an impact when the end has been apparent for quite some time. We at We Are Movie Geeks hope that Corey Haim is finally able to find the peace his life was so without.

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