Boot Hill

RIP John Rich

2012-01-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

Veteran director John Rich, who worked on a number of TV classics including "All in the Family," "Gunsmoke" and "Gilligan's Island," has died.

He was 86.

He directed the pilot for "All in the Family" and spent four years directing and producing the classic comedy for which he won two DGA Awards and three Emmys. Rich was prolific, directing more than 40 episodes of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" as well as "Bonanza," "The Rifleman," "The Twilight Zone" and "Murphy Brown."

Rich was also a board member of the Directors Guild for more than 50 years, and was a key player in the union's 196- merger ith the Radio and Television Driectors Guild and was integral to the formation of the pension and health plans.

DGA President Taylor Hackford on Sunday morning issues a statement on Rich, which read :

“We are deeply saddened to learn today of the passing of John Rich. A legendary figure in the history of TV comedy, John tirelessly served our Guild for nearly six decades. He directed some of the most beloved classics of all time and his skills as a television director were unsurpassed, but no matter how busy and successful his career was, John always made time for the DGA.

“No one who ever sat in a meeting with John will ever forget his stories about the early days of the Guild or his lovably salty sense of humor. John began making an impact in the Guild from the very first time he attended a meeting of what was then the Screen Directors Guild. At that meeting, he had the chutzpah to point out that of the illustrious members – including Capra, Stevens, Wyler and Hitchcock – who had convened to elect a board of directors, none had ever worked in television. And the very next day – John got a call that they had appointed him – this brash young television wunderkind, as an alternate member of the new board. And once he began serving the Guild, he never stopped, with more than 50 years on the National Board and Western Directors Council, and even after his retirement continued serving as the Chairman of the Directors Guild Foundation.

“But what we’ll remember the most is his dedication to defending the economic and creative rights of our members, pushing for the merger of the Screen Directors Guild and Radio & Television Directors Guild, establishing the Pension Plan and serving on almost every Negotiations Committee since 1960. We’ll always be grateful to have had the benefit of his formidable presence, his outspoken nature and his years of experience that came from leading and supporting the Guild in some of its most important moments. Our hearts go out to his wife Pat and his family at this difficult time.”

RICH, John

Born: 7/6/1925, Rockaway, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 1/29/2012, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

John Rich’s westerns – director:

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1957, 1958, 1967, 1968, 1969

The Rough Riders (TV) – 1958, 1959

Bat Masterson (TV) – 1958, 1959, 1960

Riverboat (TV) – 1959

Hotel de Paree (TV) – 1960

The Rifleman (TV) – 1960

Outlaws (TV) – 1960

Bonanza (TV) – 1960, 1967, 1968

RIP Dimitra Arliss

2012-01-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

Dimitra Arliss, who played a hired killer alongside Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the caper comedy "The Sting," has died in Los Angeles. She was 79.

Jaime Larkin, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital, says Arliss died Jan. 26 at the Woodland Hills facility of complications from a stroke.

The Ohio native began her acting career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. On Broadway, Arliss starred opposite Stacy Keach in "Indians" and with Kevin Kline and John Malkovich in "Arms and the Man."

After appearing as a "hit lady" in the 1973 hit "The Sting," she was seen in "Xanadu," starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, and in Clint Eastwood's "Firefox."

Her numerous television credits include "Dallas," ''Quincy M.E.," and "Rich Man, Poor Man."

Arliss is survived by a sister.

ARLISS, Dimitra
Born: 10/23/1932, Loraine, Ohio, U.S.A.
Died: 1/26/2012, Woodland Hills, California, U.S.A.

Dimitra Arliss' western - actress:
This the West That Was (TV) - 1974 (Ida May)

RIP Ian Abercrombie

2012-01-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

A character actor worked continuously throughout his 50-year-plus career, with credits that include “Stalag 17,” “Army of Darkness,” “Rango” and “Wizards of Waverly Place.”

Ian Abercrombie, a busy character actor who gained recognition as Elaine Benes’ (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) eccentric boss Mr. Pitt on NBC’s Seinfeld, died Thursday in Hollywood. He was 77.

Abercrombie seemed to be always working, appearing in scores of films, TV shows and theater productions during his 50-year-plus career in show business. The British actor made his American stage debut in 1955 in a production of Stalag 17 opposite Jason Robards, played the Wise Man in Sam Raimi’s comedy-horror film Army of Darkness (1972) and was 800-year-old wizard Professor Crumbs on Disney Channel hit Wizards of Waverly Place.

Abercrombie also had a recurring role as Palpatine/Darth Sidious on George Lucas’ animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, did voice work on animation hit Rango this year and, just before his death, completed his work on the latest episode of the Green Lantern animated series for Cartoon Network.

In seven episodes of Seinfeld, Abercrombie played Justin Pitt, Elaine’s picky boss who eats his candy bars with a knife and fork and wears white knee socks. He fired Elaine after he became convinced she had tried to murder him using a deadly drug interaction, with Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) as an accomplice.

Abercrombie’s film credits start with Von Ryan’s Express (1965) and include They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969), The Molly Maguires (1970), Young Frankenstein (1974), Puppet Master III (1991), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005) and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (2006).

On television, he was a regular on the WB Network series Birds of Prey and also worked on such shows as Get Smart, Hunter, L.A. Law, Dynasty, Northern Exposure, NewsRadio, Murphy Brown, Desperate Housewives and dozens of others.

Born Sept. 11, 1934, in Grays, Essex, England, Abercrombie performed on stages in London, Holland, Ireland and Scotland before coming to America at age 17 in 1951. His other theatrical credits include Mary Stuart (with Marsha Mason), The Crucifer of Blood (with Charlton Heston as Sherlock Holmes), The Vortex (with Rupert Everett) and The Arcata Promise with Anthony Hopkins.

Abercrombie was a founding member and former board member of BAFTA-LA as well as a board member for the Actors Fund of America.

Survivors include his brothers Douglas, Donald and Alex.

ABERCROMBIE, Ian

Born: 9/11/1934, Grays, Essex, English, U.K.

Died: 1/26/2012, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

Ian Abercorombie’s westerns actor, voice actor:

The Quest (TV) – 1976 (Englishman)

Wild Wild West – 1999 (British Dignitary)

Rango – 2011 [voice of Ambrose]

RIP Joaquin Martinez

2012-01-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

Joaquin Martinez dies at 81

Actor appeared in film and TV Westerns

By Variety Staff

Actor Joaquin Martinez, best remembered for the role of Paints His Shirt Red in Sydney Pollack's Robert Redford starrer "Jeremiah Johnson" and for the title role in Robert Aldrich's "Ulzana's Raid" (1972), starring Burt Lancaster, died on Jan. 3 at his home in Everdingen, Holland, after a brief struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81.

Born in Cozumel, Mexico, Martinez studied Method acting with Seki Sano and came to prominence in Carlos Velo's Mexican film "Pedro Paramo," which premiered at Cannes in 1967. Shortly thereafter he moved to Los Angeles and worked as an actor in film, on television and onstage for more than three decades.

Offered stereotypical roles, like many Latino actors, during his career in Hollywood, Martinez would work to redefine the parts, sometimes bringing him into conflict with producers and directors.

His TV work including guest roles in a large number of Western series, including "The High Chapparal," "Bonanza" and "Gunsmoke"; guest gigs on "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Ironside," "Quincy," "L.A. Law," "Dynasty" and "Northern Exposure"; and roles in telepics and miniseries incliuding "Ishi: The Last of His Tribe," "Centennial," "How the West Was Won" and "Stones for Ibarra."

Film credits Bille August's 1993 "The House of the Spirits," and "Revenge" (1990), starring Kevin Costner and Anthony Quinn. In 2001, Lee Tamahori cast Martinez in the James Bond thriller "Die Another Day" based on his longtime admiration for Martinez's performance in "Ulzana's Raid."

Onstage Joaquin appeared with Christopher Reeve and Christine Lahti in Tennessee Williams' "Summer and Smoke" at the Ahmanson in 1988. He was also an original cast member of the musical drama "Zoot Suit."

Martinez is survived by his wife, Marja Valkestijn; son Christopher, a publicist; a daughter, Jennifer; stepson Sjoerd; and former wife Mary Preston.

Donations may be made in his memory to the SAG Children's Fund for Children's Literacy.

MARTINEZ, Joaquin

Born: 11/5/1932 Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Died: 1/3/2012, Everdinger, Holland

Joaquin Martinez’s westerns – actor:

Alma Grande en el desierto – 1967

Dundee and the Culhane (TV) – 1967 (Jesus Padilla)

The Bandits – 1967

The High Chaparral (TV) – 1967, 1968, 1970 (Little Cloud, Innocente, Luis, peon)

The Stalking Moon – 1968 (Julio)

Bonanza (TV) – 1968, 1970, 1971 (Red Sky, Sanchez, Chavez)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1970 (Pepe)

Death Valley Days (TV) – 1970 (Joaquin)

Alias Smith and Jones (TV) – 1971 (Carlos)

The Bravos (TV) – 1972 (Santana)

Joe Kidd – 1972 (Manolo)

Jeremiah Johnson – 1972 (Paints His Shirt Red)

Ulzana’s Raid – 1972 (Ulzana)

Kit Carson and the Mountain Men (TV) – 1977 (Renni)

Ishi: The Last of His Tribe (TV) – 1978 (Grandfather)

Centenial (TV) – 1979 (Captain Salcedo)

How the West Was Won (TV) – 1979 (Armando Perez)

Dream West (TV) – 1986 (Sagundai)

Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (TV) – 1990 (Geronimo)

The Young Riders (TV) – 1990 (Running Bear)

The Cowboy Way – 1994 (Nacho Salazar)

RIP Vadim Glowna

2012-01-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

RIP Vadim Glowna

Vadim Glowna has died

Vadim Glowna died, according to his agency after a short illness.

The actor Vadim Glowna has died in a Berlin hospital a short severe illness, he was 70

Glowna is considered one of the most prominent German character actors who also celebrated successes abroad. He worked with Claude Chabrol, Romy Schneider and Klaus Kinski. Although he has appeared in more than 160 films in a wide repertoire, he is regarded by many as the "Böser vom Dienst". His lived to play the roles of outsiders: Such people embody "a remnant of freedom," he said. Culture Minister Bernd Neumann praised the deceased as a versatile character actor. "The German film and theater world has become poorer by his death as an extraordinary actor."

His film debut was in 1964 in Johannes Schaaf Glowna "Im Schatten der Großstadt" (In the shadow of the big city). It was followed by "Gruppenbild mit Dame" by Heinrich Boll, the author of the film "Germany in Autumn". In 1985 he was the senior teacher in the ARD version of the story "Runaway Horse" by Martin Walser. It was followed by numerous other productions, including "The Untouchables" starring Hannelore Elsner. Internationally, he excelled with movies such as Chabrol's remake of "Quiet Days in Clichy" and Sam Peckinpah's war film "The Iron Cross." His only Euro-western roles was that of Brian Jones in the TV film “The Lost Gold of the Incas” (1977).

Again and again he returned to the theater, most recently to the German Theatre in Berlin. There he starred alongside Angela Winkler in "Mother Courage".

GLOWNA, Vadim
Born: 9/26/1941, Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Died: 1/24/1912, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Vadim Glowna's western - actor:

The Lost Gold of the Incas (TV) – 1977 (Brian Jones)

RIP James Farentino

2012-01-24T19:12:00.000-08:00

Actor James Farentino dies of heart failure at 73

A mainstay of television for decades, Farentino guested on dozens of
shows, ranging from "Route 66," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" and
"Ironside" in the 1960s to a role as Simon Peter in 1977's "Jesus of
Nazareth," a recurring stint in the 1980s on "Dynasty" as Dr. Nick
Toscanni and a story arc as the father of George Clooney's character
on "ER" in 1996.

Farentino also appeared in 17 films, including "Ensign Pulver"; sci-fi
war film "The Final Countdown," in which he starred with Kirk Douglas
and Martin Sheen; and Bruce Beresford's "Her Alibi."

The actor made his smallscreen debut in a 1962 episode of "Naked
City." He had a recurring role as Neil Darrell on "The Bold Ones: The
Lawyers" from 1969-72; starred as a private eye in the brief NBC
series "Cool Million"; appeared in a number of episodes of "Police
Story" and "Insight"; and starred as Gen. Juan Peron opposite Faye
Dunaway in the 1981 NBC telepic "Evita Peron."

Farentino starred opposite Mary Tyler Moore in the brief 1985 Moore
vehicle "Mary" and opposite Julie Andrews in the similarly brief 1992
Andrews series "Julie." In 1998 Farentino had a recurring role on
"Melrose Place."

The actor also appeared in numerous telepics, starring as the slain,
abusive father in 1998's "Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story
of the Menendez Murders" and as a detective in 2000's "Murder in the
Mirror."

Farentino was married to four actresses: Elizabeth Ashley, Michele
Lee, Debrah Farentino and Stella Farentino. He is survived by Stella
and a son by Lee.

FARENTINO, James (Ferdinand Anthony Ferrandino)
Born: 2/24/1938, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 1/24/2012, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

James Farentino's westerns - actor:
Laredo (TV) - 1965 (Paco Vargas)
The Road West (TV) - 1967 (Emmett Bethel)
Ride to Hangman's Tree - 1967 (Matt)
The Virginian - 1966, 1970 (Frank Colby, Pick Lexington)

RIP Dick Tufeld

2012-01-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

DICK TUFELD, the voice of the “Lost in Space” Robot has died, his long
time pal and costar BILL MUMY announced via Facebook.

Mumy, who starred on the Irwin Allen classic space opera as Will
Robinson, posted on his official Facebook page, “Dick Tufeld was a
really cool guy. He's reunited with his wife Adrian now. R.I.P. Dick.
You will be missed bigtime.”

In addition to voicing the Robot, Tufeld was a familiar voice actor
having served time announcing the exploits of the super-sub Seaview on
“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, “Time Tunnel” and in commercials
for the bubble bath Mr. Bubble.

Mumy later posted a jazz video, “This one's for Dick Tufeld. He was
close friends with Miles Davis. Peace on your journey, pal...”

Ironically. Tufeld also was the announcer on various Disney TV shows
including the 1957-59 series, Zorro, which starred future Lost in
Space lead Guy Williams.

He also reprised in his role as the Robot in the 1998 feature "Lost in
Space" which starred Matt LeBlanc.

“Danger! Danger!” Just won’t be the same without Dick saying it.
Adios, amigo . . .

TUFELD, Dick (Richard Norton Tufeld)
Born: 12/11/1926, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Died: 1/22/2012, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Dick Tufeld's westerns - narrator/announcer:
Annie Oakley (TV) - 1954 (narrator)
Zorro (TV) - 1957 (announcer)

RIP Pio Zamuner

2012-01-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

The Italian filmmaker and writer Pio Zamuner was found dead at his home in Sao Paulo today January 20, 2011 said actor and friend Castor Guerra.

The cause of death has not been determined.

At 76, he lived alone and did not answer the phone the night before. Guerra decided to make a visit because the director did not walk well, and found the body in a chair.

Zamuner directed 13 films, most of them with comedian Amácio Mazzaropi (1912-1981).

Among them are "Ronca Ferro Concrete" (1970), a favorite of Mazzaropi by referring to the world of the circus, and "The Band of the Virgins" (1979) and "Mare and Jeca Miracle" (1980), the two last film career of comedian.

The partnership between the two even earned international film, as "a hick in Bariloche" (1972), a long time these comics took more than 2 million viewers to theaters.

Information on funeral and burial have not been disclosed.

ZAMUNER, Pio (Pio Roberto Zamuner)

Born: 1935 Chiarano, Veneto, Italy

Died: 1/20/2011, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Pio Zamuner’s westerns – actor:

O Cabeleira – 1963

Rogo a Deus a Mando Bola - 1972

RIP Giancarlo Bigazzi

2012-01-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

Giancarlo Bigazzi has died, author of "Rose rosse", "Lisa dagli occhi blu" and "Ti amo"

The composer died in a hospital on Wednesday night in Viareggio. He wrote many of the greatest Italian pop hits. He was 71 years-old.

MILAN - The world of Italian music is in mourning. Giancarlo Bigazzi died on the night of Wednesday, January 18, at 71, the composer and lyricist Giancarlo Bigazzi. He was hospitalized for several days in the hospital in Viareggio Versilia. A record producer, Bigazzi was the leader of the group "Squallor" and wrote such hits as “Rose rosse”, “Ti amo”, “Gloria”, “Si può dare di più”, “Gente di mare”, “Self Control”, “Eternità”. "Red Roses", "I love you," "Gloria," "You can give more," "Sea People", "Self control " and "Eternity".

In 1971 Bigozzi created with his friend, and lyricist Daniel Pace, along the musicians Totò Savio, Alfredo Cerruti and Elio Gariboldi they recorded as Squalor. At first it was just a prank between friends who had unexpected success for over twenty years. For Squallor, Bigazzi wrote all the lyrics and some screenplays, appearing as an actor in two films as themselves Squallor in the Euro-western "Arrapaho" (1984) and "Birds of Italy." For these films he also wrote songs for the soundtracks: "Mery per sempre” and “Ragazzi fuori" performed by Marco Risi, Mediterraneo and Gabriele Salvatores.

BIGAZZI, Giancarlo

Born: 9/5/1940, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Died: 1/18/2012, Viareggio, Tuscany, Italy

Giancarlo Bigazzi's western - actor:

Arrapaho - 1984 (man with sled)

2012-01-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

Writer Robert Dozier dies at 81
Penned 'The Cardinal,' worked on 'Harry O'
By
By VARIETY STAFF

Screenwriter Robert Dozier, who worked both in film and television, penning Otto Preminger's "The Cardinal" and working as a writer and producer on David Janssen TV series "Harry O," died Jan. 6 at his home on Martha's Vineyard (Mass.) after a long illness. He was 81.

Dozier began work as a screenwriter during the golden age of television. His first big success came with the 1955 script for "Deal a Blow," the semi-autobiographical story of a conflicted relationship between an overbearing father and his son that aired live on CBS. He adapted that script into director John Frankenheimer's 1957 film "The Young Stranger."

During the 1950s and early 1960s Dozier also wrote for anthology shows such as "Studio One in Hollywood," "Four Star Playhouse" and "G.E. True Theater."

Dozier championed the underdog in his work, as in, for example, the 1957 "Kaiser Aluminum Hour" segment "A Real Fine Cutting Edge," the story of soldiers who must deal with the constant bullying of a sergeant based on Dozier's experiences in the Army.

After penning episodes of "Thriller" and "Have Gun -- Will Travel," Dozier saw two films released in 1963: Ronald Neame's "I Could Go on Singing," starring Judy Garland, for which he received story credit, and "The Cardinal," for which he adapted the screenplay from Henry Morton Robinson's novel. The latter concerned a Boston-born priest struggling against the hatred and prejudice he sees in society.

Dozier continued in television, writing episodes of "Batman" in 1966 (his father, William Dozier, was producer of the show) and of "Dan August," starring Burt Reynolds, in 1970. Later he wrote episodes of the original "Hawaii Five-O."

He adapted Elmore Leonard's novel for the 1969 film "The Big Bounce," starring Ryan O'Neal. His adapted script for 1972's "When the Legends Die" concerned an American Indian on the rodeo circuit.

In addition to "Harry O," he was producer of television series including "The Contender," "Inspector Perez," "Sweepstakes" and "The Devlin Connection" with Rock Hudson.

He also wrote telepic scripts including "Incident in San Francisco," for ABC; "Dead Men Tell No Tales," for CBS; and "Pursuit" for ABC.

Robert James Dozier grew up in Hollywood. His father was a TV producer who started as a literary agent in Los Angeles, so when Dozier was young, he listened in as writers including F. Scott Fitzgerald bantered back and forth in the family's living room.

After graduating from Beverly Hills High School, Dozier spent some time at Brown U.; during service with the U.S. Army in Germany, he made documentaries for the signal corps.

He retired from showbiz in 1989.

During his career he helped nurture the Writers Guild to help protect writers and raise their standing.

Dozier is survived by his wife, actress Diana Muldaur; three sons, Harold, Aaron and Brendan, from his first marriage; his sister Deborah Dozier Potter, daughter of stepmother Joan Fontaine; his stepmother of more than 50 years, actress Ann Rutherford, and her daughter Gloria May.

Donations may be made to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for Prostate Cancer Research, care of Dr. Taplin, or Animal Shelter of Martha's Vineyard.

DOZIER, Robert
Born: 1931, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
Died: 1/6/2012, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Robert Dozier's westerns - screenwriter:
Have Gun - Will travel (TV) - 1960, 1961
When the Legends Die - 1972

RIP Rosy Varte

2012-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

The charm of Rosy Varte, who appeared as the generous and sparkling Maguy Boissier in the TV series "MaGuy” for eight years (1985-1992) is gone. The actress passed away in the night from Friday to Saturday at the American Hospital in Neuilly, said her husband, director Pierre Badel.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey on November 22, 1923 and whose real name was Nevarte Manouélian died following a bout with bronchitis, which degenerated into a lung infection, according to Badel. The date of his birth, he said, has remained unclear due to lack of vital records at the time in Turkey. Nevarte, he said, means "the rose" in Armenian. She had moved to France when she was a baby.

"She was a woman I felt was great," on BFM TV governed Pierre Mondy. "A woman who did not mince words," recalls the actor who knew her, Boris Vian . "She was the companion of Yves Robert, that's where we had known each other," continued Pierre Mondy who searched for words … "She was very feminine and very energetic at the same time, an actress of caliber, a remarkable actress," was keen to stress Jean Rochefort.

Rosy Varte had played in more than one hundred plays as an actress in several theaters in Paris - the Champs-Elysées Comedy, Theatre Edouard VII, Vieux Colombier Theatre Workshop .. - She is part of the NPT of Jean Vilar, where she created Ubu Roi in 1958. From 1971 she participated in several performances at the French Comedy.

Specializing in comic roles, she played from 1985 to 1993, the role of "MaGuy" with Jean-Marc Thibault in the hit television series of the same name, in 333 episodes, which aired on Antenne 2. For this role, she won the 2007 Golden 7 for the Best Actress. Her last television appearance was in 2007, in the French movie "Hubert and the dog."

For nearly 40 years, Rosy Varte had also played in fifty feature films directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jean Renoir, FrançoisTruffaut, Henri Verneuil or Claude Sautet.

VARTE, Rosy (Nevarte Manouélian)

Born: 11/22/1923, Istanbul, Turkey

Died: 1/14/2012, Nevilly-sur-Seine, Ile-de-Paris, France

Rosy Varte's westerns - actress, voice dubber:

Vengeance at Camargue - 1949 (Conchita)

Lucky Luke, Daisy Town - 1971 [French voice of Lulu Carabine]

Lucky Luke, The Ballad of the Daltons - 1978 [French voice of Miss Worthlesspenny]

RIP Serge Lhorca

2012-01-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

A Tribute to Serge Lhorca (1918-2012)
By: Rémi C.

He was one of our great "deans" the actor Serge Lhorca died January 13, 2012 in his sleep at the age of 93 years, it was learned from actor Patrick Floersheim.

Born on September 8, 1918 in Vergt, France, Serge Lhorca, it was difficult to find a picture of him and information on his theatrical career is quite rare.

We know that he started dubbing after the World War II. Originally from Spain, he imitates to perfection the Hispanic accent given by the artistic directors of the time dubbing a whole gallery of Mexicans in westerns. Because of his voice at once resonant and easily malleable he later plays numerous roles in the dubbing movies, series and cartoons, especially in the distributions of Jacqueline and John Porel-Pierre Dorat in the years 1970-1980 (Flaversham in “Basil Private Detective”, jingles in the first dubbing “The Black Cauldron”) but also the SND (Speedy Gonzales in the Looney Tunes, Master Yoda in the first Star Wars trilogy, Roddy MacDowall in “Planet of the Apes” and its sequels), the SOFI (Dr. Simon Wright Captain Future) and Synchro World. He also lends his voice to the crazy Uncle MacAllister of” Home Alone” and Oliveira de Figueira in the “Tintin” animated series of the 1990.

He doubled many important people, nevertheless lending his voice to the "stars", such as the notable Jack Lemmon (Mister Roberts, JFK), Mel Brooks (The Madwoman History of Space) and Gene Wilder (Transamerica Express). Although retaining a young man's voice, he dis not resume the role of Yoda in the new Star Wars trilogy, due to health concerns related to his venerable age. His last dubbing is certainly the character of Filch, the irascible caretaker of Hogwarts in the first two Harry Potter films. He then retired.

LHORCA, Serge

Born: 9/8/1918, Vergt, France

Died: 1/13/2012, France

Serge Lhorca’s westerns – French voice dubber:

Fort Apache – 1948

The Proud One – 1956 [Edward Platt]

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral – 1957 [Earl Holliman]

Last Train from Gun Hill – 1959 [Earl Holliman]

Nevada Smith – 1966

The Appaloosa – 1966

Return of the Seven – 1966 [Julian Mateos]

The War Wagon – 1967

Shalako – 1968

True Grit – 1968

Guns of the Magnificent Seven – 1969

Chato’s Land – 1972

Bite the Bullet – 1975

Bronco Billy – 1980

Silverado – 1985

Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) – 1993-2001

RIP Mario Maranzana

2012-01-13T07:28:00.000-08:00

Farewell to actor Mario Maranzana He was 82

The actor Mario Maranzana has died.

Mario Maranzana was born in Trieste, Italy July 14, 1930, and was 82 years-old. His long career, began in 1953 in the theater opposite Vittorio Gassman in "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles. He had worked with some of the greatest Italian actors and directors like Giorgio Strehler and Italian director Luchino Visconti. Mario was also active on the small screen: his most famous character was Inspector Lucas opposite actor Gino Cervi in the TV series "Investigations of Inspector Maigret." Maranzana appeared in seven Euro-westerns from “Epitaph for a Fast Gun” (1965) until “Apache Woman” in 1976. His funeral will be held today at 12 in the Church of the Artists in Piazza del Popolo in Rome.

MARANZANA, Mario

Born: 7/14/1930, Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Died:1/11/2012, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Mario Maranzana's westerns - actor:

Epitaph for a Fast Gun - 1965

One Dollar of Fire – 1966

Two Faces of the Dollar – 1967 (Sergeant Lodge)

Ciccio Forgives... I Don’t! - 1968 (Dr. Brown)

A Long Ride from Hell – 1968 (Bobcat)

Then Nephew of Zorro – 1968 (Judge Ramirez)

Apache Woman - 1976 (Snake)

RIP David Whitaker

2012-01-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

British composer David Whitaker passed away Wednesday January 10, 2011 at the age of 81.

He was best known for his scores for "Hammerhead" (1968), ), "Run Wild, Run Free" (1969), "Scream and Scream Again" (1970)," ),"Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde" (1971), "Vampire Circus" (1972), and more recently, "With a Friend Like Harry" (2000).

WHITAKER, David (David Sinclair Whitaker)

Born: 1/6/1931, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, U.K.

Died: 1/10/2011, Oxfordshire, England, U.K.

David Whitaker's westerns - composer, conductor:

Desperados - 1969 [composer, conductor]

Lawman - 1971 [conductor]

RIP Larry Solway

2012-01-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Actor, radio host and newspaper columnist Larry Solway died from liver cancer on January 9^th at Toronto General Hospital. He was 83. During the 1960s he hosted radio programs at radio station CHUM in Toronto such as the early Canadian talk show Speak Your Mind. He left the station in 1970 due to a dispute with the station over a series of shows on sex. In the aftermath, he wrote “The Day I Invented Sex” about the controversy.

Solway was known nationally as a panelist of the CBC Television program “This Is the Law” in the early 1970s. He returned to the radio talk show circuit later that decade with Talkback on Brampton, Ontario station CHIC until management there dismissed him without warning. He was seen in minor roles in films such as “Meatballs” and “The Brood”. In the late 1970s he was a columnist for the newly launched Sunday Star.

He was a candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 1999 Ontario general election but was unsuccessful in his campaign in St. Paul's riding.

In a column written for Straight Goods, Solway lamented the "Christmas Envy" that he felt as a Jew.

Solway was diagnosed with bladder cancer at age 83. In November 2011 he wrote a final blog post to say goodbye to his readers.

SOLWAY, Larry (Lawrence S. Solway)

Born: 3/?/1928, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Died: 1/9/1912, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Larry Solway’s westerns – actor:

Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (TV) – 1957 (White Eagle, Neil)

Flaming Frontier – 1958 (Chief Little Crow)

RIP Betty Jane Rhodes

2012-01-10T16:53:00.000-08:00

Betty Jane Rhodes [1921 – 2011]

Betty Jane was born on April 21, 1921 in Rockford, Illinois and was singing on radio at age 9. Her rich contralto voice and good looks earned her a Paramount contract at age 15. She made her film debut in “Forgotten Faces” (1936), and sang ‘My Melancholy Baby’ in Arizona Raiders later that year. By World War II, she was starring in minor musicals of her own, including “Sweater Girl” and “You Can't Ration Love”. She recorded for Decca and RCA, scoring hits with ‘Rumors Are Flying’ and ‘Buttons and Bows.’ She had an early TV show, "Adventures in Rhythm," on the Mutual Broadcasting System, co-founded by her husband, Willet H. Brown. Betty Jane died on December 26, 2011.

RHODES, Betty Jane

Born: 4/21/1921, Rockford, Illinois, U.S.A.

Died: 12/26/2011, U.S.A.

Betty Jane Rhodes' westerns - actress:

The Arizona Raiders - 1936 (Lenta Lindsay)

Along the Rio Grande - 1941 (Mary Loring)

RIP Denise Darcel

2012-01-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

Denise Darcel, French-born actress, dies at 87

By Adam Bernstein

Denise Darcel, the buxom French-born chanteuse and actress who gained
screen popularity in the early 1950s playing opposite some of
Hollywood’s most popular leading men, died Dec. 23 at a hospital in
Los Angeles.

Her family told the Associated Press that she had complications from
an emergency surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm. She was 87.

“France’s gift to the sweater brigade,” as Ms. Darcel was once dubbed,
saw her brief stardom propelled largely by her cantilevered charms.
After a brief nightclub career in France, she began winning sensuous
roles in Hollywood movies. She stood out as the only woman in William
Wellman’s acclaimed war drama, “Battleground” (1949).

She played a peasant woman who invites a group of battle-weary GIs to
her home for a meal. She drew attention for a scene that called on her
to press a loaf of bread to her bosom and, wielding a large knife,
aggressively saw ample slices for the men billeted in her home.

The next year, she was given a featured role on Broadway in the Olsen
and Johnson revue “Pardon My French” as a nightclub singer who speaks
in fractured English. Ms. Darcel was soon elevated to starring roles
in tepid movie dramas such as “Tarzan and the Slave Girl” (1950) with
Lex Barker and the Wellman-directed “Westward the Women” (1951),
starring Robert Taylor as the leader of a wagon train filled with
determined women.

New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther called Ms. Darcel, playing
a character named Fifi Danon, “just a little too hootchy-kootchy to
sell belief in the ruggedness of dames, especially when she melts down
Mr. Taylor after he has given her a couple of whacks in the face.”

She was an ambitious cabaret singer in the comedy “Young Man With
Ideas” (1952), starring Glenn Ford, and played a countess transporting
a gold shipment in “Vera Cruz” (1954), a 19th-century adventure
drama set in Mexico and featuring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster.

In 1953, Ms. Darcel starred in another historical drama, “Flame of
Calcutta” and had a supporting role in the Esther Williams musical
“Dangerous When Wet.” Her final film appearance was in the
undernourished drama “Seven Women From Hell” (1961), set amid a
Japanese prison camp during World War II.

A baker’s daughter, Denise Billecard was born in Paris on Sept. 8,
1924. She was working as a dime-store cashier when she won a beauty
contest. She was subsequently promoted as “the most photographed girl
in France.”

After her movie career faded, Ms. Darcel popped up occasionally on
television and in nightclubs and, for a while, turned to striptease
work. She later appeared in community theater.

Her marriages to William Shaw, Peter Crosby and Richard Vance ended in
divorce. Her fourth husband, George Simpson Jr., died in 2003.
Survivors include two sons.

Early in her career, Ms. Darcel said she had conflicts with a
Hollywood designer who bowed to a censor’s wishes and made her a dress
that covered her trademark features. She told the Associated Press
that, while the dowdy dress frustrated her, “Maybe some of the fans
will discover I have a face, too.”

DARCEL, Denise (Denise Billecard)

Born: 9/8/1925, Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Died: 12/23/2011, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Denise Darcel’s westerns – actress:

Thunder in the Pines – 1948 (Yvette Cheron)

Westward the Women – 1951 (Fifi Danon)

Vera Cruz – 1954 (Countess Marie Duvarre)

RIP Evelyn Stevens

2012-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Popular western singer Evelyn Stevens

Published: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 - 12:00 am | Page 3B

Evelyn Stevens, a pioneer of western swing music who sang with her sister and toured with legendary Bob Wills before marrying his brother, bandleader Billy Jack Wills, died Dec. 24 of cancer, her family said. She was 87.

Mrs. Stevens began singing at age 12 on an Alabama radio show during the Great Depression with her 14-year-old sister, Dean, as the McKinney Sisters. Their sweet sound led to appearances with the singing cowboys Sons of the Pioneers and Grand Ole Opry shows with Eddy Arnold.

"We had a blend that was kind of unique," said Mrs. Stevens in a 2009 interview. "We sang duets, and when it would go too high for her, I'd take over – and when it went too low for me, she took over."

The McKinney Sisters went on to sing with the Ted Weems Orchestra in Chicago. In 1946, they were invited to tour with one of the most popular bands in western swing, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. They performed on Wills' radio program, made a musical film and recorded for MGM, Columbia and Tiffany Transcriptions.

The band settled in Sacramento, where Mrs. Stevens married Wills' younger musician brother, Billy Jack, who formed his own western swing band. She raised two children while performing with her husband on Sacramento radio and TV shows in the 1950s.

The couple also performed at the popular Wills Point ballroom on Auburn Boulevard with Dean and her husband, Billie "Tiny" Moore, who was Bob Wills' mandolin player.

"Mom had to quit Bob Wills' band, and so did Aunt Dean, because they were married women," said Mrs. Stevens' daughter, Billie Jacqulyn Wills. "That wasn't allowed in the band."

Margaret Evelyn McKinney was born in 1924 in Birmingham, Ala. She was one of four daughters of a coal-mine machinist and homemaker.

Her marriage to Billy Jack Wills ended in divorce after about 20 years. Her second husband, Norman J. Stevens, and her son, John, each died in 1996.

Mrs. Stevens took up painting and became a prolific artist and member of the North Highlands Art Guild. She started a Bible group and sang in the choir at Capitol Free Will Baptist Church in North Highlands. She was also active in the Harvest Time Group, a social club.

She and her sister Dean recorded two albums of sacred music and were active for many years in the Western Swing Society. They sang together in public and remained close until Dean Moore's death in 2009.

STEVENS, Evelyn (Evelyn Margaret Stevens)
Born: 3/15/1924, Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A.
Died: 12/24/201, Sacramento, California, U.S.A.

Evelyn Stevens western - actress:
Frontier Frolic - 1946 (The McKinney Sisters)

RIP Dorothy Morris

2012-01-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

Beautiful brunette Dorothy Morris died November 20, 2011. Dorothy played the disturbed Ingeborg Jensen in MGM's Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945). The role was brief but Morris made every moment count and it remains a mystery why the studio, who had put her under contract in 1941, didn't at least attempt to star her. She had studied under Maria Ouspenskaya before testing for The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) and although she failed to get the part (it went instead to Donna Reed), Morris hung in there and even managed a British accent for the war drama Cry Havoc (1943). Vines, however, became the highlight of a rather unfulfilled Hollywood career that later included guest-starring roles on such television series as Wagon Train, The Donna Reed Show, and Dragnet. She is the younger sister of dancer/actress Caren Marsh.

MORRIS, Dorothy
Born: 2/23/1922, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Died: 11/20/2011, California, U.S.A.

Dorothy Morris' westerns - actress:
Casey Jones (TV) - 1975 (Emma)
Rawhide (TV) - 1959, 1962 (Mrs. Kincaid, Laverne Mushgrove)
Wagon Train (TV) - 1964 (Lola)

RIP Towje Kleiner

2012-01-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

As a chaotic but lovable living artist, he excelled in Helmut Dietl's TV series "The ordinary madness", as ship's cook on the side of Odessi Pumuckl he appreciated the children. Now the big Munich actor Towje Kleiner had died. He was 63 years old.

Towje played Maximilian Glanz in the Helmut Dietl's cult series of that name in the late seventies, at his side appeared such stars as Helmut Fischer and Barbara Valentin. He acted alone for his contribution to the wonderful television series “Little Towje” for which he will be remembered. Towje died unexpectedly during the night Monday at the age of 63 years. A spokesman for the Jewish community in Munich on Monday confirmed a report in the daily newspaper "tz".

Born in Bavaria Kleiner made his stage debut in Israel. In Germany he seen as Ahmed in the "Munich Stories" by Dietl, in the detective series "Soko 5113" or the Bayerische Rundfunk series "The Salt Baron". He also served as ship's cook Odessi the new boyfriend of Pumuckl, as embodied by the successor Gustl Bayrhammer champion Eder.

In an interview with the "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" he described his work in 2008 as wonderful. He did not want to live again but: "I always hear that life goes by so fast, but that misses the point that it’s not so fast when you look back, and that happens a lot, especially in my life..."

KLEINER, Towje

Born: 4/4/1948, Föhrenwald, Wolfratshausen, Germany

Died: 1/9/2012, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Towje Kleiner's western - actor:

Carlos (TV) – 1971

RIP Vivi Friedman

2012-01-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

The Finnish Hollywood film director Vivi Friedman has died.

Vivi Friedman, director of “The Family Tree” died in Los Angeles on January 2. She was 44. Friedman was born and raised in Finland, where she directed her first commercial shortly after high school. Vivi’s passion for film took her to the United States with a scholarship to study film at the University of Rochester. She later continued her studies in TV and Film at UCLA and began an international commercial directing career that continues to this day.

In 2003 Vivi shot her short film “Certainly Not a Fairy Tale”, starring Linda Cardellini and Jason Segel for Fox Searchlight’s prestigious Searchlab, one of the industry’s most highly-regarded programs for developing the next generation of filmmakers. Vivi spoke five languages and had worked all over the world.

FRIEDMAN, Vivi

Born: 1967 Helsinki, Finland

Died: 1/2/2012, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Vivi Friedman’s western – production assistant:

Into the Badlands (TV) - 1991

RIP Jerzy Mizak

2012-01-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Production manager, assistant director Jerzy Mizak and his wife, actress Barbara Mizak [1955-201. A third of his life was associated with the film industry. He worked as a location manager, produ1] died in a car accident on Christmas day near their home in Kozielnicach, Poland. He was 58. Jerzy was born in Poland on September 18, 1953 and was a very experienced production manager and assistant director in over 50 films. Mizak was associated with some of the the largest Polish productions: “Pan Tadeusz” (1999) "The Pianist", "Zemsta", “Wiedźmin" (all 2002), "Wesele" (2004), "Katyń" (2007) and his only Euro-western “Summer Love” (aka Dead Man’s Bounty) (2006). Earlier in December he began work on the film Walesa.

MIZAK, Jerzy

Born: 9.18.1953, Poland

Died: 12/25/2011, Kozielnicach, Poland

Jerzy Mizak's western - production manager:

Dead Man's Bounty - 2006

RIP Bob Anderson

2012-01-02T06:42:00.000-08:00

Bob Anderson, sword-fighting master who wielded Darth Vader’s light saber, dies at 89

By Associated Press,

LONDON — Bob Anderson, a former Olympic swordsman who staged fights for films including the “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” series, has died, British fencing authorities said Monday. He was 89.

The British Academy of Fencing said Monday that Anderson died early New Year’s Day at an English hospital.

Anderson donned Darth Vader’s black helmet and fought light saber battles in two of the three original “Star Wars” films, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”

The villainous character was played by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones, and Anderson’s role was not initially publicized.

But Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, said in a 1983 interview that “Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader’s fighting.”

“It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told (director) George (Lucas) I didn’t think it was fair any more,” Hamill told Starlog magazine. “Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It’s ridiculous to preserve the myth that it’s all done by one man.”

Robert James Gilbert Anderson was born in Hampshire, southern England, in 1922. He served in the Royal Marines during World War II and represented Britain in fencing at the 1952 Olympics and the 1950 and 1953 world championships.

His first film work was staging fights and coaching Errol Flynn on swashbuckler “The Master of Ballantrae” in 1952.

He went on to become one of the industry’s most sought after sword masters, working on movies including the James Bond adventures “From Russia With Love” and “Die Another Day”; “The Princess Bride”; “The Legend of Zorro”; and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Fencing academy president Philip Bruce said Monday that Anderson was “truly one of our greatest fencing masters and a world-class film fight director and choreographer.”

Anderson is survived by his wife Pearl and three children. Funeral details were not immediately available.

ANDERSON, Bob (Robert James Gilbert Anderson)
Born: 9/15/1922, Gosport, Hampshire, England, U.K.
Died: 1//1/2012, England, U.K.

Bob Anderson's westerns - sword master:
The Mask of Zorro - 1998
The Legend of Zorro - 2005

RIP Rogelio Hernández

2011-12-31T13:24:00.000-08:00

Legendary Spanish voice actor Rogelio Hernández died today in Spain December 31, 2011 of cancer. Born in Barcelona on December 25, 1930, he started out as a stage actor in Madrid, before resettling in Barcelona, where he became a much-employed baritone dubbing actor, the regular voice of Marlon Brando, Michael Caine and, subsequently, Jack Nicholson, he excelled in anti-heroic voices. His other work includes Tony Curtis in “Some Like it Hot”, Dirk Bogarde in “The Night Porter” and Joe Spinell in “Maniac”. In 2008, he retired due to eyesight problems. He is survived by his wife, Rosa Guiñón and his daughter, Rosa María Hernández, both likewise voice actors.

HERNÁNDEZ, Rogelio [12/25/1935, Barcelona, Cataluna, Spain – 12/31/2011, Spain (cancer)] – stage, voice actor, married to actress Rosa Guiñón, father of actress Rosa María Hernández.

Rogelio Hernández’s westerns – voice dubber:

The Man from Canyon City – 1965 [Spanish voice of Luis Dávila]

A Pistol for Ringo – 1965 [Spanish voice of Giuliano Gemma]

The Return of Ringo – 1965 [Spanish voice of Giuliano Gemma]

Ringo and His Golden Pistol – 1965 [Spanish voice of Mark Damon]

Why Go on Killing? – 1965 [Spanish voice of Anthony Steffen]

$4.00 of Revenge - 1966 [Spanish voice of Robert Woods]

Go with God, Gringo – 1966 [Spanish voice of Glenn Saxson]

Django the Last Gunfighter – 1967 [Spanish voice of John Hamilton]

Gentleman Killer – 1967 [Spanish voice of Mariano Vidal Molina]

Professionisti per un massacre – 1967 [Spanish voice of George Hilton]

Shalako – 1968 [Spanish voice of Peter Van Eyck]

Boot Hill – 1969 [Spanish voice of Terence Hill]

El Puro - 1969 [Spanish voice of Ashborn Hamilton, Jr.]

Companeros – 1970 [Spanish voice of Tomas Milian]

Return of Sabata – 1971 [Spanish voice of Reiner Schöne]

Man of the East – 1972 [Spanish voice of Dominic Barto]

Too Much Gold for One Gringo – 1972 [Spanish voice of Anthony Steffen]

The Man Called Invincible – 1973 [Spanish voice of Sal Borgese]

Dallas – 1974 [Spanish voice of Anthony Steffen]

The White, the Yellow and the Black – 1974 [Spanish voice of Giuliana Gemma]

Eagle’s Wing - 1979 [Spanish voice of Harvey Keitel]

Dead Man - 1994 [Spanish voice of John Hurt]

RIP Jack Totheroh

2011-12-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

Longtime Santa Paula resident, Roland Jack Totheroh, died May 20, 2011, at age 96.
Born in the East San Francisco Bay area community of Niles on Aug. 28, 1914, Jack was the son of pioneer film cameraman Roland Totheroh and Ida Chaix, a sheepherder's daughter from the Livermore mountains. Before Jack's second birthday, the family moved to Hollywood, where Jack grew up and graduated from Hollywood High School in 1932. After a short stint as a Depression-era courier for the Federal Reserve Bank, Jack continued his education at Chapman College where he was elected Student Body President his senior year (BA 1940). He deemed it his responsibility as President to meet all new co-eds, which is how he met his wife Marian. They were married just short of 70 years.
He earned a Master of Arts in Education at USC in 1951. Jack began his teaching career at Antelope Valley HS and Junior College (1941-44), followed by a position at Jordan High School in Los Angeles (1944-45) before moving with Marian and their then two young sons, Steve and Dan, to Santa Paula. He began teaching at Santa Paula High School in the fall of 1945. Their third son, David, was born two years later. Many current Santa Paula residents remember Mr. Totheroh as their Civics teacher, Senior Class Advisor or School Counselor who helped them discover their own potential. In 1952 he moved to a position as Secondary Curriculum Consultant for the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools. In 1953 that position evolved into Director of Guidance, then Director of Guidance and Research, then Director of Research and Testing. From 1955 through 1966 Jack also served as a part-time consultant to the Director of Pupil Personnel Services in the State of California.
From 1959 to 1965 Jack was Director of Data Processing for Ventura County Schools. From 1965 through his retirement in 1984, Jack became Regional Director of one of only three fledgling Data Processing Centers under the California State Department of Education, at one time serving 150,000 students throughout California and even in British Columbia. Jack was very proud of having run the Center within budget and at significant savings to the school districts served, claiming that his most significant talent was "being smart enough to hire people smarter than I am and then getting out of their way."
During retirement Jack volunteered as a docent at the Santa Paula Oil Museum. He served on the 1988-89 Ventura County Grand Jury. And in 1991 he was honored by the Santa Paula Union High School Alumni Association as their retired 'Teacher of the Year.' In 2008 Jack and his wife were presented with the 'Community Service Award' by the Santa Paula Rotary Club. Totheroh is survived by wife, Marian; sons, Steve, Dan, and David; granddaughters, Joanna Valadez, Kathryn, and Heather; grandson-in-law, Pepe Valadez; and great-grandson, Joaquin Valadez.
The family would like to thank all of Jack's friends, his exercise partners at the Easter Seals Pool, and the wonderful people at Assisted Home Care, all of whom helped make Jack's last years and months both pleasant and meaningful, and most especially thank Yolanda Guerrero, whose most tender and giving care made even his last months and days comfortable, dignified and respectful.

TOTHEROH, Jack (Roland Jack Totheroh)
Born: 8/28/1914, Niles, California, U.S.A.
Died: 5/20/2011, Ventura, California, U.S.A.

Jack Totheroh's western - actor:
The Bachelor's Baby - 1915 (baby)

RIP Louise Henry

2011-12-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

In Memoriam: Louise Henry (June 14, 1911 - December 12, 2011)

There were a great many supporting actors and actresses who performed during the days of Hollywood's Golden Age and some had contributions to specific thier studios or the film history of a household name. One of which was the late Louise Henry. She was born on June 14, 1911 in Syracuse, New York as Jessie Louise Hieman to Swedish immigrants who came to America for a better life. With the coming of the Depression in the 1930s Louise decided to leave her hometown which was suffering from crippling effects brought on by economic turmoil and like many during that time she came to Hollywood in search for stardom. She got employment at MGM Studios and after some tests and vocal training she made her debut in Paris Interlude. She then appeared as a nightclub singer in Hide-Out with Robert Montgomery. She appreared in approximatley 21 films between 1934 and 1939 and she co-starred opposite such reigning stars as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Ricardo Cortez, Virginia Bruce, and others.

In 1935 when Anita Loos backed out of writing a script for a motion picture called Remember Last Night? Louise jumped in and helped with the script formation. She had a lead role in Remember Last Night? but her writing wasn't attributed with the credits at that time. She later became close friends with her other lead costars, Robert Young and Constance Cummings. In the late 1930s she appeared in several Charlie Chan mysteries either as a Girl Friday or a suspect. In 1939 after she completed Charlie Chan in Reno Louise chose not to renew her MGM contract and with enough financial security that included Studio Income, Pension, and stock investments in film, oil, and real estate she returned to her home roots that same year and she bought a mansion like home in the fashionable and rich Meadowbrook neighboorhood in Syracuse.

In 1941 she opened her own Drama Classes until 1979 when she retiered a second time. She also dabbled in Republican politics, even admitting later that she took her screen name in honor of Mrs. Herbert Hoover, and was active spiritually in the Atonement Lutheran Church. She never married or had any children of her own but she considered her MGM friends, neighbors, and congregation members to be like a family. In a 2010 phone interview she was asked what her secret was to having lived a long life; she later said it came from a good diet, religious faith, and having a good laugh at least once a day. On Monday, December 12, 2011 in the comfort of her lavish home and loving live-in nurse and secretary, Louise Henry passed away in a sweet repose at the age of 100 from complications of advanced age.

At her memorial service held on Friday, December 16, 2011 at the Atonement Lutheran Church her secretary said, "Louise was one of the unsung heroines of the original Hollywood. She acted, sang, and danced and she even wrote a script. Though her time in the spotlight may have been short her time in the sight of the Lord was great, rewarding, and wonderful". Following the service she was laid to rest at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse, New York. In the end Louise was considered to be a true star by those who knew her and she was well recieved by those in her prime who had succeeded her.

HENRY, Louise (Jessie Louise Henry)
Born: 6/14/1911, Syracuse, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 12/12/2011, Syracuse, New York, U.S.A.

Louise Henry's western - actress:
End of the Trail - 1936 (Belle Pearson)

RIP Pedro Armendáriz, Jr.

2011-12-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

Mexican actor Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. has died

Armendáriz Jr. was born in Mexico City, the son of actors Carmelita (née Pardo) and Pedro Armendáriz. He has been married to actress Ofelia Medina.

Armendáriz has appeared in over 100 movies. Among them are The Magnificent Seven Ride, El Crimen del Padre Amaro, Matando Cabos and La ley de Herodes, and played Don Pedro in The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro. He also had small roles in Earthquake (film) (1974), Tombstone and Amistad.

Both Armendáriz and his father appeared in James Bond movies. The elder Armendáriz appeared in From Russia with Love in 1963, while Pedro Jr. appeared in 1989's Licence to Kill. Also both actors portrayed Pancho Villa, the senior Armendáriz on several movies and Pedro Armendáriz Jr in Old Gringo (Spanish: Gringo Viejo) opposite Gregory Peck and Jimmy Smits. Interestingly, Pedro Armendáriz Jr also portrayed Pancho Villa's enemy Luis Terrazas in the film And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself opposite Antonio Banderas.

He died in 2011 of cancer at age 71 in New York City.

Pedro Armendariz, Jr. (Pedro Pedro Armendáriz Bohr, Jr.)

Born: 4/6/1940 Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Died: 12/26/2011, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Pedro Armendariz, Jr.’s westerns - actor:

Outside the Law – 1966

Daniel Boone (TV) - 1966 (horseman)

El cachorro – 1966

Los gavilanes negros – 1966

El temerario – 1966

The Bandits – 1967 (priest)

Guns for San Sebastian – 1968 (Father Lucas)

El corrido de 'El hijo desobediente' – 1968

Los asesinos – 1968 (Talbot)

Todo por nada – 1969

Super Colt 38 – 1969 (Morton)

The Undefeated – 1969 (Escalante)

The Phantom Gunslinger – 1970 (Algernon)

Chisum – 1970 (Ben)

Macho Callahan – 1970 (Juan Fernandez)

Su precio... unos dólares – 1970 (Sam)

Primero el dólar – 1972

Hardcase (TV) – 1972 (Simon Fuegus)

The Magnificent Seven Ride! – 1972 (Pepe Carral)

Indio – 1972

Los indomables – 1972

The Soul of Nigger Charley – 1973 (Sandoval)

The Deadly Trackers – 1973 (Herrero)

Cinco mil dolares de recompense – 1974 (William Law)

Guns and Guts – 1974 (abandoned husband)

Traiganlos vivos o muertos – 1974

Carroña – 1978

El tres de copas – 1986

Walker – 1987 (Muñoz)
Old Gringo - 1989 (Pancho Villa)

Tombstone – 1993 (priest)

The Cisco Kid (TV) – 1994 (General Montano)

The Mask of Zorro – 1998 (DonPedro)

And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (TV) – 2003 (Don Luis Terrazas)

El Segundo – 2004 (El Mayor)

The Legend of Zorro – 2005 (Governor Riley)

RIP Ted Markland

2011-12-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

Ginny Shook posted toThe High Chaparral Reunion
Sorry to have to share the sad news that Ted Markland passed away on December 18th. His spirituality was one of the most important parts of his life, always pursing what was beyond life as we know it, so there is no doubt he is enjoying his soul's next great adventure. There will be a memorial service for him on January 15th, his birthday. Riders coming!

MARKLAND, Ted
Born: 1/15/1933, U.S.A.
Died: 12/18/2011, Yucca Valley, California, U.S.A.

Ted Markland’s westerns – actor:The Rough Riders (TV) – 1958
The Restless Gun (TV) – 1958 (Collie Smith)
Buckskin (TV) – 1959 (Nestor)
The Man from Blackhawk (TV) – 1959 (Early Sutter)
Bat Masterson (TV) – 1960 (Lem Taylor)
Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1959, 1960 (Shorty, Patterson)
Tate (TV) – 1960 (Bill Towley)
Outlaws (TV) – 1961 (Cass)
The Hallelujah Trail – 1965 (Bandmaster)
The Wild Wild West (TV) – 1965 (Jack Talbot)
Bonanza (TV) – 1966 (Boone)
Waterhole #3 – 1967 (soldier)
The High Chaparral (TV) 1967-1969 (Reno)
The Hired Hand – 1971 (Luke)
Ulzana’s Raid – 1972 (trooper)
Jory – 1972 (Evans)
Hec Ramsey (TV) – 1973 (Lee Skinner)
The Great Gundown – 1977 (Herien)
How the West Was Won (TV) – 1978 (Nugget)
Wanda Nevada – 1978 (Strap Pangburn)
Father Murphy (TV) – 1982 (Frank)
The Yellow Rose (TV) – 1983 (Tolan)
The Outsider – 1994 (Colonel Howling)
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (TV) – 1994 (duster)
Bonanza Under Attack (TV) – 1995 (Mr. Cole)
Wild Bill – 1995 (Tommy Drum)
Last Man Standing – 1996 (Deputy Bob)

RIP Robert Easton

2011-12-21T21:21:00.000-08:00

Robert Easton, the Henry Higgins of Hollywood, dies at 81

By ELAINE WOO - Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Robert Easton, a character actor whose command of a vast
array of foreign and American regional accents led to a flourishing
second career as a dialect coach to Hollywood stars such as Charlton
Heston and Anne Hathaway, has died. He was 81.

Often called the Henry Higgins of Hollywood, he died of natural causes
Friday at his home in Los Angeles, said his daughter, Heather Woodruff
Perry.

A consummate phoneticist like Higgins, the exacting speech tutor in
the musical "My Fair Lady," Easton taught Forest Whitaker the African
inflections of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and Ben Kingsley the gruff
tones of a New York mobster. He helped Arnold Schwarzenegger turn his
Austrian accent into Russian English and Liam Neeson's Irish brogue
into a Kentucky drawl. He once coached Heston from a bathtub in
Munich, helping the actor pronounce his lines like a Scot.

When actor Robert Duvall signed on to play Confederate commander
Robert E. Lee in the movie "Gods and Generals" several years ago, he
wanted Easton to help him sound authentically Virginian. The affable
coach quickly became popular with the rest of the cast.
"They said, 'We want Virginia accents,' " Duvall recalled in an
interview Wednesday. "Bob said, 'Which one? There are 12 distinct
accents, from the Piedmont to the ocean.' He knew them all.

"He was a wonderful man, a very unique personality, and a master at
his craft."

Despite recent health problems, Easton continued to coach via
telephone and tape recorder. "A month ago, he did an entire script on
tape for John Travolta," his daughter said.

Born Robert Easton Burke in Milwaukee on Nov. 23, 1930, Easton
developed an awareness of speech as a child struggling to tame a
stutter. When he was 7, his parents split up and he moved with his
mother to San Antonio. Noticing how Texans tend to draw out their
speech, he trained himself to talk more slowly, which enabled him to
control his stammer.

At 14, he auditioned for a spot on the popular radio program "Quiz
Kids" and toured the country with the cast of child prodigies. By 18,
the lanky, 6-foot-4 teenager was winning parts in Hollywood, mainly
playing country bumpkins because of his thick Texas drawl. He appeared
on "The Burns and Allen Show," "Father Knows Best," "The Jack Benny
Show," "The Red Skelton Show," "Wagon Train," "Rawhide" and
"Gunsmoke."

Fearful of being typecast as the slow-witted deputy or hillbilly
cousin, he decided to work on different accents to broaden his
opportunities. He discovered he had a facility for mimicking regional
speech patterns.

In 1961, after marrying June Grimstead, he moved with her to her
native England and began studying phonetics at University College in
London. He had absorbed a number of European accents by the time he
returned to Hollywood three years later. Fellow actors, impressed by
his new ability, asked him to teach them. Before long, he had a side
business as an accent tutor that quickly grew into his main
occupation.

He learned over the years to adapt to his clients' different learning
styles. He found some actors, such as Robin Williams, had strong
auditory ability and could pick up accents by listening and repeating.

Others were more visual and needed to work with phonetic scripts. "He
found a way to spell things," said Whitaker, who called Easton an
artist who understood the vibration and power of words. "We
established our own language."

Still others were more physically inclined, such as Patrick Swayze,
who had been trained in dance. For that type of student, Easton told
the Chicago Tribune in 1992, "I talk to them about the difference in
mouth position, what happens with the vocal cords, how it makes the
voice more or less nasal."

He expanded his repertoire during his foreign travels, absorbing the
speech rhythms of local cabdrivers, shopkeepers and hotel guests. He
often enlisted his wife in his studies, motioning her to continue
chatting up an unsuspecting subject while he took notes.

His wife died in 2005 after 44 years of marriage. He is survived by
his daughter and a granddaughter.

Wherever Easton went, he prowled bookstores, eventually turning his
home into a linguist's paradise with an estimated 500,000 volumes
about the languages and cultures of the world. Bags and boxes of books
spilled into every conceivable corner, as well as a few surprising
places.

"He had two 'retired' cars in the driveway," his daughter said. "Guess
what's inside them? He was a bit eccentric about his books." She hopes
to establish a library to make them available to actors and scholars.

In between his coaching assignments, Easton taught at the University
of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California.
He also continued to work as an actor in movies such as "Paint Your
Wagon," "Pete's Dragon," "Pet Sematary II" and "Primary Colors." He
played a Klingon judge in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
Country" (1991).

As a dialect coach, he also worked with non-celebrities, such as the
New York lawyer who was losing cases in California because juries,
hearing his nasal, rapid speech, judged him slick and impatient. After
he learned to speak more slowly and improve his tonal quality, he
started winning cases, according to Easton.

In one of his toughest assignments, the dialect doctor helped Japanese
actress Yoko Shimada in the TV miniseries "Shogun." She spoke no
English and turned words like "order" into "odor," but after three
weeks of work with Easton she re-recorded her mangled pronunciations
and went on to win a Golden Globe award in 1981.

"I'm a great believer in the principle that there's no wastage in the
universe," Easton told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. "So when I work
with somebody who is foreign who's trying to lose their accent, I can
always give their old dialect to somebody else."

EASTON, Robert (Robert Easton Burke)
Born11/23/1930, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Died: 12/16/2011, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A

Robert Easton's westerns - actor:
Take Me To Town -1953 (train vendor)
Buffalo Bill, Jr. (TV) - 1953 (Danny)
Gunsmoke (TV) - 1955 (Magnus)
Annie Oakley (TV) - 1956 ('Smiley' Douglas, Abner Hackey)
Circus Boy (TV) - 1957 (Len Clemens)
The Adventures of Jim Bowie (TV) - 1958 (Otie)
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (TV) - 1958 (Swapper Sam Scott)
Wagon Train (TV) - 1959 (Slim)
Riverboat (TV) - 1959 (Corporal Chase)
Johnny Ringo (TV) - 1960 (Billy Counts)
Rawhide (TV) - 1960 (bugler)
Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) - 1961 (Jeff)
Death Valley Days (TV) - 1964 (Moore)
Pistols 'n' Petticoats (TV) - 1966 (Will Dill)
Paint Your Wagon - 1969 (Atwell)
Alias Smith and Jones (TV) - 1971 (Hank)
Centenial (TV) - 1978 (Major Sibley)

RIP Victor Manuel Castro

2011-12-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

Victor Manuel Castro has died

Victor Manuel "El Guero" Castro Arozamena, father and promoter of Mexican movie files (from 1975 to the mid-90), died yesterday at age 87, of respiratory arrest. His remains will be cremated before noon today, to rest in the Church of St. Thomas More.

With the loss of "El Guero" Castro, an era of film has ended. As an actor, screenwriter, film director and producer, whose films, reflected the reality of the thriving nightlife in the country and was a major employer of over 80-year-tapes, home of the likes of Alberto Rojas 'El Caballo', Alfonso Zayas, Rafael Inclan, Humberto Elizondo, Eduardo "El Mimo", Luis de Alba, Sasha Montenegro, Hector Lechuga Lorena Herrera and Carmen Salinas.

With a history of more than 53 years, born in the neighborhood of Tepito, was veiled in an agency of Felix Cuevas, in the chapel 3. He is survived by: His wife, Estela Mendoza, his daughters, Jacqueline Silvia (wife of Manuel "Flaco" Ibanez), Paty (Cesar Bono's wife), Liliana and Lizbeth and their grandchildren.

Victor Manuel "El Guero" Castro covered all areas of entertainment, debuted as an actor in the films "Voices of Spring" (1941) and "Love sold" (1951), as director with "pulque" (1981) and "The pulquería 2 "(1982), as a writer" Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp "(1958)," Beautiful Night "(1971, emanating from the play" The filename ")," Cabaret Nights "(1978)," The Loving "(1979)," Midnight Dolls "(1979)," A male in the salon "(1987) and more than a hundred.

His daughter Jacqueline Castro Ibanez said this that the teaching that lets your father, recently honored by the ANDA throughout a brilliant career, "is the joy of life, love everyone and was her sense of humor, which led him to his last breath. "

For actor and former leader of the ANDA, Humberto Elizondo, the loss of Victor Manuel "El Guero" Castro, is irreplaceable, "gave me a lot of work in comedy. I would say that he made the film the reality of that time."

Mario Casillas, president of ANDI said: "This news makes me very sad. It is regrettable loss. It hurts a lot. And my greatest love Jackie and her husband Manuel 'Flaco' Ibáñez, the loss of this great artist."

CASTRO, Victor Manuel (aka "El Guero") (Victor Manuel Castro Arozamena)

Born: 1924, Tepito, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Died: 12/17/2011, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexcico

Victor Manuel Castro’s westerns – director, actor:

La fichera mas rapida del oeste – 1992 [director]

Goya Goya Salinas almolya – 1996 [actor]

RIP Dan Frazer

2011-12-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

Veteran film and television actor Dan Frazer, best known for his role as Captain Frank McNeil on the 1970s television series "Kojak," has died in New York. He was 90.

Frazer's daughter, Susanna Frazer, said Sunday her father died of cardiac arrest Dec. 16 at his home in Manhattan. She described him as a "very truthful, naturalistic actor."

Frazer started playing character roles in various television series and films in the 1950s. His films include "Cleopatra Jones," "Take the Money and Run" "Gideon's Trumpet" and "Deconstructing Harry." Besides "Kojak," Frazer's television appearances include "Car 54, Where Are You," "Route 66," "Barney Miller" and "Law & Order."

He was a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and an adviser to The Workshop Theatre Co.

FRAZER, Dan (Daniel Frazer)
Born: 11/20/1921, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 12/16/2011, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Dan Frazer's westerns - actor:
Outlaws (TV) - 1960 (Sam Childers)
The Road West (TV) - 1967 (Sheriff Lyle Saunders)

RIP Donald Sharp

2011-12-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

Donald Sharp the Tasmanian-born director, screenwriter, who began his career as an actor died on December 2011. Sharp was born on April 19, 1922 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and came to Britain after World War II where he went to work with Group Three. He began directing low budget thrillers and musicals in the mid ‘50s including “The Golden Disc” (1958), “The Adventures of Hal 5” (1958), and “It’s all Happening” (1963), before graduating to genre films. Don’s first for Hammer being “Kiss of the Vampire” (1963). Sharp was also responsible for the stunning second unit work on “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” (1965) and “Puppet on a Chain” (1970), as well as such films as “Witchcraft” (1964), “The Face of Fu Manchu” (1965), “The Brides of Fu Manchu” (1966), “Taste of Excitement” (1969), “Psychomania” (1972), “The Thirty-Nine Steps” (1978) and “Bear Island” (1979). TV work includes the popular mini-series A Woman of Substance and TV sequels.

SHARP, Donald

Born: 4/19/1922, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Died: 12/18/2011, Cornwall, England, U.K.

Donald Sharp's western - screenwriter:

Legend of a Gunfighter - 1964

RIP Eleazar Garcia Jr.

2011-12-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

Mexican Actor Eleazar Garcia Jr. has died of kidney failure

Thursday, 15 December 2011

Actor Lorenzo Eleazar Garcia Gutierrez, who was best known as Chelelo Jr. died during the early hours of Wednesday at the General Hospital in this border city, Tijuana, officials of the hospital.

The artist, originally from the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, 53 years old, according to the medical report, died of chronic renal failure by diabetic complications.

García Gutiérrez, film director, born on December 13, 1957 and had the chance to work with people from the likes of Antonio Aguilar also deceased, who was also his friend.

Eleazar Garcia participated in films such as The Fall of Colossus, The Mayor, all were brave, shark and Boots ... wild Texan and bullets, which were productions in home video format, and whose theme usually treated on the Mafia and drug trafficking.

GARCIA, Jr., Eleazar (Eleazar García Gutiérrez Jr.)

Born: 12/13/1957, Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico

Died: 12/12/2011, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

Eleazar Garcia, Jr.'s westerns - actor:

El gatiollo de muerte - 1985

Tequileros del Rio Grande - 1991 (Captain Miller)

RIP Sérgio Britto

2011-12-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Brazilian actor Sérgio Britto died on December 17, 2011 at Copa D’Or Hospital at 88 years. Brito was one of the most important personalities in the history of Brazilian theater. He was currently featured on TV Brazil, Brazil Communications Company (EBC), the program with Sérgio Britto Art. Sérgio was the creator, director and star of the Grand Theatre Tupi, which aired for more than ten years in the defunct TV Tupi. The actor and director was responsible for the direction of Lost Illusions, the first telenovela produced and aired by TV Globo. But the great consecration was with the theater, where he received numerous awards. In 2010, he launched his autobiography The Theatre and I. The wake of the body of Sérgio Britto occur in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, in the early afternoon.

BRITtO, Sérgio (Sérgio Pedro Correa de Britto)

Born: 6/29/193, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Died: 12/17/2011 Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sérgio BritTo’s western – actor:

Caingangue - 1973

RIP Walter Giller

2011-12-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

The actor Walter Giller has died. Giller, died on Thursday evening December 15, 2011 at the age of 84 years from lung cancer.

The actor was born in 1927 in Recklinghausen and raised in Hamburg. Already in 1947 he was with the Hamburg Chamber of playing on stage, he later starred in over 80 feature films. He was, among other things for the remake of the Heinz Rühmann films "Three from the gas station" (1955) and "The Feuerzangenbowle" (1970) in front of the camera in "Charley's Aunt" (1956) and "The Captain from Koepenick "(1956) he played together with Rühmann. He also starred in the television series "The Love Boat" with.

For his role as a former Army private first class in "Roses for the Prosecutor" Giller was awarded the 1960 National Film Award, in 2000 he was honored with his wife, Nadja Tiller [1929- ], with the Federal Cross of Merit.

Giller and Tiller were already in the 1950s and 1960s a dream couple among German actors. The two actors were married in 1956 and had two children together. Since 2008, Giller and Tiller lived in a Hamburg retirement home.

GILLER, Walter

Born: 8/23/1927, Reckinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Died: 12/15/2011, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Walter Giller's westerns - actor:

The Last Ride to Santa Cruz - 1964 (Woody Johnson)

Legend of a Gunfighter - 1964 (Spike Sunday)

Legacy of the Incas - 1965 (Fritz Kiesewette)

RIP John Higgins

2011-12-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

John Higgins dies at 71

Directed plays in London, South Africa, Australia

By Variety Staff

John Higgins, an actor, director, producer and dialect coach, died Nov. 11 of oral cancer in Fremont, Calif. He was 71.
Australia-born Higgins made his professional acting debut with the Old Globe Theater in San Diego and appeared in 16 Shakespeare plays in repertory over a four-year period. He appeared Off Broadway in "Desire Under the Elms" with George C. Scott and in the celebrated production of "Six Characters in Search of an Author," directed by William Ball. Relocating to London in 1970, he performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in the original West End productions of "The Boys in the Band" and "Fortune and Men's Eyes."

In 1974 Higgins moved to Johannesburg, where he directed and acted with the Market Theater. In 1975, he directed "Of Mice and Men," with Ken Gampu, the first government-approved multiethnic production in South African history, at the Lakeside Theater. In 1977, he directed the anti-apartheid play "Survival," with Seth Sibanda and David Kekana; the production toured to the U.K., Russia and the U.S. Returning to California in the late '70s, John directed the U.S. premiere of "The Biko Inquest," a play about the South African activist, at the Globe in San Diego, and the world premiere of Ken Kesey's "The Further Inquiry."

During the 1980s Higgins divided his time between England, the U.S. and Australia, directing new works "Two Without a Cause" (plays by Michael Weller and Israel Horovitz) in Sydney as well as Charles Marowitz's "The Shrew" and Woody Allen's "God" in London. In 1990, he directed a controversial musical production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," set in the Haight-Ashbury District of San Francisco against the turbulence of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. In the 1990s, he directed plays and musicals in San Francisco and Sacramento for the Eureka Company, the Spreckles Arts Center, Next Stage and the Alcazar Theater.

Higgins also appeared in more than a dozen movies, including "Phar Lap" and "The Revolutionary," and on TV.

Since returning to Australia in 2000, he served as an acting and dialect coach for the likes of Chris Hemsworth and Rose Byrne. He taught at the Ensemble Studios, National Institute of Dramatic Art, Stables Theater and Company B. He was in the process of preparing a revival of his musical on Bob Dylan called "Words and Music," and creating an updated version of "Midsummer Night's Dream," when he learned he had cancer.

John Edward Higgins Jr. was born in Sydney, the son of an American father and Australian mother. John and his younger brother, filmmaker Colin Higgins ("Harold and Maude," "Foul Play"), moved to the U.S. and settled in Atherton, Calif. John Higgins received a B.A. from San Jose State U. and an acting diploma from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and he served in the U.S. Navy in the early 1960s.

He is survived by his mother and brothers Gary, Brian, Barry and Dennis.

HIGGINS, John
Born: 1/2/1940, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died: 11/11/2011, Freemont, California, U.S.A.

John Higgins' western - actor:
The Roaring Whispers - 2007 (gravedigger)

RIP Susan Gordon

2011-12-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Susan Gordon was a child actress in film and on television. In 1959 she played Danny Kaye's daughter in The Five Pennies, Susan Walker in the tv movie version of Miracle On 34th St. She also had roles on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, and on an episode of The Twillight Zone entitled 'The Fugitive'. Her most famous role was as the disturbed teen aged daughter of Don Ameche in the 1966 cult classic Picture Mommy Dead. Susan Gordon died December 11, 2011 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

GORDON, Susan
Born: 7/27/1949, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Died: 12/11/2011, Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Susan Gordon's western - actress:
Gunsmoke (TV) - 1961 (Charity)

RIP Marilyn O'Connor

2011-12-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

A celebration of the life of Marilyn O'Connor Davis, a longtime Thousand Oaks resident and a veteran actress, will take place Saturday in Simi Valley.

Davis, who moved to the Conejo Valley in 1965, died Nov. 13 at Simi Valley Hospital nine days after suffering a stroke.

She became ill at the United Church of Christ in Simi Valley while performing Nov. 4 in a fundraising cabaret of music and skits.

"It was pretty theatrical," said her daughter, Maripat Davis, who was also performing in the show.

"She was singing and dancing, and when she came offstage during one of her breaks, she complained of a headache. She went back onstage and did a tap dance, then came offstage, and her headache was worse, and she was feeling nauseous," Maripat Davis said.

Paramedics were called, and Marilyn Davis was taken to the hospital, where she died with her family at her bedside.

Born in Duluth, Minn., Davis made her Broadway debut as a teenager, her daughter said, and never stopped performing.

She appeared in the Broadway and National Touring Company productions of "South Pacific," "Miss Liberty" and "Finian's Rainbow," which is where she met her future husband, Charles Davis. They married in 1950.

She also performed in Las Vegas and in shows at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, the Greek Theatre and the Sacramento Music Circus, her family said.

She was a frequent guest star on TV shows, including "ER," "Frasier," "7th Heaven," "In Living Color," "MAD TV," "Matlock" and "Joey." She had recently completed appearances on "Raising Hope" and "American Horror Story."

Charles and Marilyn Davis brought the first musical production to the Conejo Players Theatre in Thousand Oaks in 1966, when they performed in "Finian's Rainbow." Charles Davis directed a revival of the show in 2006 in which he, his wife and their daughter performed.

The couple also appeared with their daughter as part of the Actors and Singers Studio in Thousand Oaks, which Charles and Maripat Davis co-founded.

Maripat Davis said her mother always felt young, still drove to Los Angeles and was in touch with her agent up until her death.

"She was just an amazing person. She was very passionate about her art, and she loved to make people laugh," she said.

"She also was a huge humanitarian and animal lover, and she did a lot of volunteer work for people."

In addition to her daughter, Marilyn Davis is survived by her son-in-law, Jon Gordon; son, Blaine O'Connor; and grandson, Patrick Gordon-Davis, 13. Charles Davis — an actor, writer and director — died in December 2009 at age 84.

A celebration of her life and work will be held at 2 p.m. at the United Church of Christ, 370 Royal Ave. The service will feature a slide show of her life, video clips from her film and TV work as well as music and tributes.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations in Marilyn Davis' name be sent to the nonprofit animal rescue group Animal Resources, 682 Hacienda Drive, Camarillo, which is dedicated to saving shelter pets from euthanasia.

O'CONNOR, Marilyn
Born: 19??, Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Died: 11/13/2011, Simi Valley, California, U.S.A.

Marilyn O'Connor's western - actress:
Tombstone Territory (TV) - 1958

RIP Alberto de Mendoza

2011-12-12T08:44:00.001-08:00

Argentine actor Alberto de Mendoza died at Clinica de la Luz in Madrid, Spain today December 12, 2011 from respiratory failure. De Mendoza was 88. De Mendoza, appeared in more than 200 films including three Euro-westerns: “A Bullet for Sandoval”, “The Forgotten Pistolero” and “When Satan Grips the Colt” all in 1969. Born Alberto Manuel Rodriguez Gallego Gonzáles de Mendoza on January 21, 1923 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he will be cremated tomorrow at the Almudena cemetery in Madrid, where he had chosen to spend the last decades of his life.

RIP Vida Jerman

2011-12-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

Stage, film and television actress Vida Jerman died suddenly yesterday in Zagreb, in the 72nd year of life.

Vida Jerman appeared in hundreds of theater roles, a number of achievements in Croatian films, but also a number of international film roles with actors such as Omar Sharif, Meryl Streep, Yula Brynner, James Coburn and others, reminds portal Croatian Cultural Council.

She achieved an impressive range of roles, among which are those of Miss Mariana in "Tko pjeva zlo ne misli", SS čuvarice u "Sophie’s Choice", Ljerke u "Oficiru s ružom" i Hanžikine žene u filmu "Sokol ga nije volio".

Jerman had starred in Esperanto

Vida Jerman was born in Zagreb on April 28,1939. She graduated in acting from the Academy of Dramatic Art, but she studied English, Italian and Spanish at the Faculty of Arts, and in acting circles stood for poliglota. Because of her support of this thesis is why she starred in “Esperanto”, and has promoted the universal language.

In October 1997, with a group of actors from Zagreb she founded a registered theater troupe Ponte (Bridge), for which she was the art director. Jerman was also a longtime member of the World Esperanto Association (UEA) and she was an expert delegate to the theater, and in June 1997, was awarded the Order of Croatian for her contribution to theater arts, and for special merit in presenting Croatian culture in the country and abroad.

For the last few decades Vida Jerman was a member of the Theatre Cherry and played in a series of performances for children and adolescents.

JERMAN, Vida

Born: 5/28/1939 Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia

Died: 1210/2011, Zagreb, Croatia

Vida Jerman's western - actress:

Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death - 1968 (saloon girl)

RIP Bee Spears

2011-12-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

Dan “Bee” Spears, Willie Nelson’s bass player for more than four decades, has died at the age of 62. Spears’ girlfriend Dee Pearce said Spears slipped and fell while exiting his motor home near Nashville on Thursday night and died from exposure to the elements, KXAN reported.

Spears was born in San Antonio on August 11, 1949. He started playing bass for Willie Nelson at age 19, according to this birthday note on Nelson’s website.

We called Ray Benson, frontman of Asleep at the Wheel and a close friend of Spears for 38 years, to get his reaction.

“I’m just shocked. It’s not something you expect at all,” Benson told us. “But to paraphrase an old friend, Warren Zevon, ‘Enjoy every taco,’ because you just don’t know.”

“Bee was, no pun intended, the basis of Willie's sound,” Benson said. He said Spears’ traveling bass lines worked perfectly with Nelson’s guitar and said the band "basically grew that sound. It's the most eclectic individual sound you'll ever hear out of a band. You'll never hear another band sound like that."

Benson described Spears as “a funny guy. He was a smart guy. And like I said, he was Willie’s left hand."

In a Tweet, Willie Nelson expressed “sadness and shock” at Spears’ death. Nelson also posted this statement to his website:

We are deeply saddened by the death of Family member Dan "Bee" Spears, long time friend and bassist for Willie Nelson and Family.

We are still in shock and gathering details as the day continues. He apparently died of accidental exposure at his property near Nashville, Tennessee.

SPEARS, Bee (Daniel Edward Spears)

Born: 8/11/1949, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.

Died: 12/8/2011, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Bee Spears' western - actor:

Red Headed Stranger - 1986 (Eugene Claver)

RIP Jo Ann Sayers

2011-12-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

Jo Ann S. AgleJo Ann Sayers Agle

Born Miriam Lilygren in Seattle, Wash. in 1918, she grew up with music

and dance lessons, and homegrown theatrical productions.

When attending the University of Washington, she participated in the

drama program where she was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout. After

successful screen tests, she was contracted by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

(MGM) and given the stage name Jo Ann Sayers.

She spent 1938-1940 performing increasingly-important roles in over a

dozen movies and documentaries produced by MGM and Columbia. During

this time, she worked with many of Hollywood’s leading luminaries,

including Rosalind Russell, Mickey Rooney, Boris Karloff, Lionel

Barrymore, Victor Jory, George Burns, and Gracie Allen.

In 1940, during a visit to New York, she auditioned for the new

Broadway play, “My Sister Eileen”. She was chosen to play the lead

role of Eileen opposite Shirley Booth. The play, which opened in

December 1940, was a smash hit and had a successful 18-month run.

While doing appearances to support the war effort, she met lawyer

Anthony A. Bliss, who was serving in the Navy. They were married in

1942. In subsequent years, while giving up full time acting, she

participated in summer stock in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and

performed in occasional theatrical appearances on Long Island where

the couple moved after the war.

While raising three children in Locust Valley, N.Y., she continued her

life-long interest in the arts. She co-founded the Children’s World

Theatre of New York, was president of the Long Island Little

Orchestra, and was a co-founder and president of the Pro Arte Symphony

Orchestra. She was a member of the Advisory Council Department of Art

& Archeology at Columbia University from 1964 to 1970; served as a

trustee of Hofstra University from 1965 to 1974; and was a board

member and Vice President of the American National Theatre & Academy

(ANTA) from 1946 to 1965.

After her marriage to Mr. Bliss ended in divorce in 1967, she moved to

Princeton and married architect Charles K. Agle in 1968. She continued

to support the arts and was a member of the Princeton University

Concerts Committee, the president of Friends of Music at Princeton

University, and a community fellow of Mathey College at the

University.

She is survived by her sister, Mary K. Ramsey; two children, Eileen B. Andahazy-Chevins and Anthony A. Bliss Jr.; five grandchildren; and two

great grandchildren.

Donations may be made to Princeton University Concerts, Room 301,

Woolworth Center for Music Study, Princeton, N.J. 08544.

SAYERS, Jo Ann (Miriam Lucille Lilygren)

Born: 10/22/1918, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

Died: 11/14/2011, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Jo Ann Sayers’ western – actress:

The Light of Western Stars – 1940 (Madeline ‘Majesty’ Hammond

RIP Harry Morgan

2011-12-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

Harry Morgan, Colonel Potter on ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 96

N.Y. Times

By MICHAEL POLLAK

Published: December 7, 2011

Harry Morgan, the prolific character actor best known for playing the acerbic but kindly Colonel Potter in the long-running television series “M*A*S*H,” died Wednesday morning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 96. His son Charles confirmed his death.

In more than 100 movies, Mr. Morgan played Western bad guys, characters with names like Rocky and Shorty, loyal sidekicks, judges, sheriffs, soldiers, thugs and police chiefs.

On television, he played Officer Bill Gannon with a phlegmatic but light touch to Jack Webb’s always-by-the-book Sgt. Joe Friday in the updated “Dragnet,” from 1967 to 1970. He starred as Pete Porter, a harried husband, in the situation comedy “Pete and Gladys” (1960-62), reprising a role he had played on “December Bride” (1954-59). He was also a regular on “The Richard Boone Show” (1963-64), “Kentucky Jones” (1964-65), “The D.A.” (1971-72), “Hec Ramsey” (1972-74) and “Blacke’s Magic” (1986).But to many fans he was first and foremost Col. Sherman T. Potter, commander of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit in Korea. With a wry smile, flat voice and sharp humor, Mr. Morgan played Colonel Potter from 1975 to 1983, when “M*A*S*H” went off the air. He replaced McLean Stevenson, who had quit the series, moving into the role on the strength of his performance as a crazed major general in an early episode.

In an interview for the Archive of American Television, Mr. Morgan said of his “M*A*S*H” character: “He was firm. He was a good officer and he had a good sense of humor. I think it’s the best part I ever had.” Colonel Potter’s office had several personal touches. The picture on his desk was of Mr. Morgan’s wife, Eileen Detchon. To relax, the colonel liked to paint and look after his horse, Sophie — a sort of inside joke, since the real Harry Morgan raised quarter horses on a ranch in Santa Rosa. Sophie, to whom Colonel Potter says goodbye in the final episode, was Mr. Morgan’s own horse.

In 1980 his Colonel Potter earned him an Emmy Award as best supporting actor in a comedy series. During the shooting of the series’ final episode, he was asked about his feelings. “Sadness and an aching heart,” he replied

Harry Morgan was born Harry Bratsburg on April 10, 1915, in Detroit. His parents were Norwegian immigrants. After graduating from Muskegon High School, where he played varsity football and was senior class president, he intended to become a lawyer, but debating classes in his pre-law major at the University of Chicago stimulated his interest in the theater. He made his professional acting debut in a summer stock production of “At Mrs. Beam’s” in Mount Kisco, N.Y., and his Broadway debut in 1937 in the original production of “Golden Boy,” starring Luther Adler, in a cast that also included Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb.

After moving to California in 1942, he was spotted by a talent scout in a Santa Barbara stock company’s production of William Saroyan’s one-act play “Hello Out There.” Signing a contract with 20th Century Fox, he originally used the screen name Henry Morgan, but changed Henry to Harry in the 1950s to avoid confusion with the radio and television humorist Henry Morgan.

Mr. Morgan attracted attention almost immediately. In “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1943), which starred Henry Fonda, he was praised for his portrayal of a drifter caught up in a lynching in a Western town. Reviewing “A Bell for Adano” (1945), based on John Hersey’s novel about the Army in a liberated Italian town, Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times that Mr. Morgan was “crude and amusing as the captain of M.P.’s.”

He went on to appear in “All My Sons” (1948), based on the Arthur Miller play, with Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster; “The Big Clock” (1948), in which he played a silent, menacing bodyguard to Charles Laughton; “Yellow Sky” (1949), with Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter; and the critically praised western “High Noon” (1952), with Gary Cooper. Among his other notable films were “The Teahouse of the August Moon” (1956), with Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford, and “Inherit the Wind” (1960), with Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, in which he played a small-town Tennessee judge hearing arguments about evolution in the fictionalized version of the Scopes “monkey trial.” In “How the West Was Won” (1962), he played Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.

After a personable performance as Glenn Miller’s pianist, Chummy MacGregor, in “The Glenn Miller Story” (1954), starring James Stewart, he often played softer characters as well as his trademark hard-bitten tough guys. There were eventually a number of comedies on his résumé, among them “John Goldfarb, Please Come Home” (1965), with Shirley MacLaine and Peter Ustinov; “The Flim-Flam Man” (1967), with George C. Scott; “Support Your Local Sheriff!” (1969), with James Garner and Walter Brennan; and “The Apple Dumpling Gang” (1975), a Disney movie with Tim Conway and Don Knotts.

He returned as Bill Gannon, by now promoted to captain, in the 1987 movie “Dragnet,” a comedy remake of the series starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks.

Mr. Morgan’s television credits were prodigious. He once estimated that in one show or another, he was seen in prime time for 35 straight years. Regarded as one of the busiest actors in the medium, he had continuing roles in at least 10 series, which, combined with his guest appearances, amounted to hundreds of episodes. He reprised the role of Sherman Potter in “AfterMASH” (1983-85), a short-lived spinoff.

Among the later shows on which he appeared as a guest star were “The Love Boat, “ “3rd Rock From the Sun,” “You Can’t Take It With You,” “Murder, She Wrote” and “The Jeff Foxworthy Show.”

Mr. Morgan’s first wife, Eileen Detchon, died in 1985 after 45 years of marriage. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Bushman, whom he married in 1986; three sons from his first marriage, Christopher, Charles and Paul; and eight grandchildren. A fourth son, Daniel, died in 1989. Mr. Morgan lived in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

His son Charles, a lawyer in Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview that he would marvel at his father’s photographic memory. “My dad would read a script the way somebody else would read Time magazine and put it down and be on the set the next day,” he said.

But Harry Morgan never sat as a guest on a talk show, Charles Morgan said ; it did not seem appropriate or necessary. “Appearing on a talk show to focus on himself because he was Harry Morgan,” he said, “was not nearly as natural as appearing in a role as Pete Porter or Bill Gannon or Colonel Potter, or as the cowboy drifter who wandered into town with Henry Fonda and got wrapped up in a vigilante brigade in ‘Ox-Bow Incident.’ ”

MORGAN, Harry (Harry Bratsberg)

Born: 4/10/1915, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

Died: 11/7/2011, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Harry Morgan’s westerns – actor:

The Omaha Trail – 1942 (Nat)

The Ox-Bow Incident – 1943 (Art Croft)

Gentle Annie – 1944 (Cottonwood Goss)

Yellow Sky – 1948 (Half Pint)

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend – 1949 (Hoodlum)

The Showdown – 1950 (Rod Main)

Belle Le Grand – 1951 (Abel Stone)

Bend of the River – 1952 (Shorty)

High Noon – 1952 (Sam Fuller)

Apache War Smoke – 1952 (Ed Cotton)

Toughest Man in Arizona – 1952 (Verne Kimber)

Arena – 1953 (Lew Hutchins)

The Forty-Niners – 1954 (Alfred ‘Alf’Billings)

The Far Country – 1954 (Ketchum)

Backlash – 1956 (Tony Welker)

Star in the Dust – 1956 (Lew Hogan)

Have Gun Will Travel (TV) – 1958, 1963 (Fred Braus, Sheriff Ernie Backwater)

Cimarron – 1960 (Jesse Rickey)

How the West Was Won – 1962 (General Ulysses S. Grant)

The Virginian – 1963 (TV) (Kendall Jones)

Support Your Local Sheriff! – 1969 (Olly Perkins)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975 (Osgood Pickett, John Milligan, Jed Hockett)

Support Your Local Gunfighter – 1971 (Taylor)

Scandalous John – 1971 (Sheriff Pippin)

Cat Ballou II – 1971 (The Rancher)

Hec Ramsey (TV) – 1972-1974 (Doc Amos B. Coogan)

Sidekicks – 1974 (Sheriff Jenkins)

The Last Day (TV) – 1975 (narrator)

The Apple Dumpling Gun – 1975 (Homer McCoy)

RIP Violetta Villas

2011-12-06T12:39:00.000-08:00

Polish opera star Violetta Villas dead at 73

She was a coloratura soprano who spurned opera for popular music, a Polish singer who became a caberet star in Las Vegas, an artist trapped for years behind the Iron Curtain when she flew home to tend to her dying mother. Singer Violetta Villas, 73, died late Monday at her home in Lewin Klodzki, a village in southern Poland, local police spokesman Pawel Petrykowski told the Associated Press. Prosecutors have ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death, he said Tuesday.

Villas was born Czeslawa Cieslak in 1938 to a Polish coal miner’s family in Belgium. A unique talent with a trademark cascade of curly blond hair, Villas had a voice that spanned four octaves. Rather then pursue an operatic career, she preferred popular music, a genre that brought her wide popularity in Poland — where the family returned in 1948 after the World War II — and abroad.

She once said her career was launched in 1960 by the head of state Polish Radio, composer Wladyslaw Szpilman — whose own story of survival during the Holocaust was the theme of director Roman Polanski’s 2003 Oscar-winning movie The Pianist. From 1966 to 1969, Villas sang at the Casino de Paris at the fame Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas, performing with luminaries like Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Paul Anka and Eartha Kitt. She also recorded songs for Capitol Records. Villas also appeared in movies, including the 1969 Paint your Wagon with Lee Marvin and Heaven with a Gun with Glenn Ford.

In 1970, she returned to Poland to tend to her ailing mother, but later the communist authorities refused to approve her passport. She was not able to return to the U.S. until 1987, when she had a tour, starting at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Villas was also known as a colorful personality who refused to bend to the requirements of a career. Since the late 1980s, she has given only occasional performances and sometimes failed to turn up for studio recordings. In recent years she lived alone and ran a shelter for animals, but the shelter had to be closed due to overcrowding and insufficient care.

Villas was married twice: in 1954 in Poland to Piotr Gospodarek, and in 1988 in Chicago to Ted Kowalczyk, a businessman of Polish descent. Both marriages ended in divorce. She is survived by her only son, Krzysztof. No funeral arrangements were immediately known.

VILLAS, Violetta (Czeslawa Maria Cieslak)
Born: 6/10/1938, Liege, Belgium
Died: 12/3/2011, Lewin Klodzki, Poland

Violetaa Villas's westerns - actress:
Heaven With a Gun - 1969
Paint Your Wagon - 1969

RIP Dan Biggers

2011-12-05T19:09:00.000-08:00

One of Rome`s most famous celebrities, Dan Biggers, has died. Biggers was known for his roles in the tv show In the Heat of the Night, as well as movies such as Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Glory, Paris Trout, and The Slugger`s Wife.

Biggers is the former Dean of Students at Berry College and was on the staff of the Dean of Men at the University of Georgia. His job was to escort Charlayne Hunter (now a correspondent for PBS) to class when she integrated the University of Georgia in 1960. Biggers was an English instructor at Toccoa High School in the late 1950s.

BIGGERS, Dan (Daniel Upshaw Biggers)
Born: 1931, Covington, Georgia, U.S.A.
Died: 12/5/2011, Rome, Georgia, U.S.A.

Dan Biggers westerns - actor:
Dream West (TV) - 1986
Glory - 1989 (minister)

RIP Alan Sues

2011-12-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

Alan Sues -- who starred in "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" back in the 70s -- has died. Alan -- who also appeared in the infamous 1964 Twilight Zone episode "The Masks" passed away last night of an apparent heart attack. "Laugh-In" creator George Schlatter tells TMZ, "Alan was a dear man and good friend, and a forcefield of energy and laughs. Every situation he was in added an element of humor and danger because you never knew what he was going to do, but you knew it was going to be funny." Alan was 85.

SUES, Alan (Alan Grigsby Sues)

Born: 3/7/1926, Ross, California, U.S.A.

Died: 12/1/2011, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Alan Sues' western - actor:

The Wild Wild West (TV) - 1965 (Matt Dawson)

RIP Bill McKinney

2011-12-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Bill McKinney, 'Deliverance' Mountain Man, Dies at 80

The actor, who petrified movie audiences when he said "squeal like a pig," passed away Dec. 1 after a battle with esophageal cancer.

He made a generation of moviegoers afraid to go canoeing.

Bill McKinney, the actor who played one of crazed mountain men in Deliverance and famously ordered one particularly unfortunate camper to "squeal like a pig," died Thursday at the age of 80.

A prolific artist up until his death, McKinney's career included dozens of film credits (including 7 Clint Eastwood titles) and appearances on television series such as In The Heat of the Night, Baywatch and Walker, Texas Ranger.

But McKinney was always associated with Deliverance. The 1972 film, starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty, followed a group of men on an ill-fated river trip into the Appalachian wilderness where they are hunted down by a group of sadistic locals.

McKninney, credited only as "Mountain Man," appeared in the movie's infamous rape scene. He seemed to relish the role, operating his official website under the domain www.squeallikeapig.com.

His death was confirmed Dec. 1 on his Facebook page.

"Our dear Bill McKinney passed away at Valley Presbyterian Hospice," reads the statement. "An avid smoker for 25 years of his younger life, he died of cancer of the esophagus. He was 80 and still strong enough to have filmed a Dorito's commercial 2 weeks prior to his passing, and he continued to work on his biography with his writing partner. Hopefully 2012 will bring a publisher for the wild ride his life was. He is survived by son Clinton, along with several ex-wives."

McKINNEY, Bill (William McKinney)

Born: 9/12/1931, Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Died: 12/2/2011, Van Nuys, California, U.S.A

Bill McKinnery’s westerns – actor:

Firecreek – 1968 (bearded gunfighter)

Alias Smith and Jones (TV) – 1971-1972 (Lobo Briggs)

Junior Bonner – 1972 (Red Terwilliger)

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean – 1972 (Fermel Parlee)

The Godchild (TV) – 1974 (Corporal Crawley)

This is the West That Was (TV) – 1974 (Drago Wellman)

Breakheart Pass – 1975 (Reverend Peabody)

Sara (TV) – 1976 (Tom Sellers)

The Outlaw Josey Wales – 1971 (Terrill)

The Shootist – 1976 (Cobb)

Young Maverick (TV) – 1979 (Smokey Trumbull)

Bronco Billy – 1980 (Lefty LeBow)

Brett Maverick (TV) – 1981 (Ramsey Bass)

Father Murphy (TV) – 1982 (Joseph Redstone)

Back to the Future Part III – 1990 (engineer)

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold – 1994 (Matt)

Lone Justice 2 – 1995 (Verlon Borges)

Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) – 1995 (sheriff)

The Lazarus Man (TV) – 1996

The Magnificent Seven (TV) – 2000 (Liver-Eating Jones)

True Legends of the West – 2003 (mayor)

The Devil Wears Spurs – 2006 (barkeeper)

Ghost Town: The Movie – 2007 (Victor Burnett)

RIP Dalia Penn

2011-12-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

On September 14th, the death of Dalia Penn-Lerner was announced. Dalia Penn-Lerner, 75, was a famous actress, including starring in the “Forsyte Saga”, a famous BBC television series. She was most well-known in Israel as a food connoisseur and writer. She wrote for the Hadashot newspaper, was heavily involved in Israel’s Chaines des Rotisseurs chapter and was one of the leading people responsible for charting, recording and pioneering the advance of Israel gastronomy. However the wine industry will remember her for her part in the development of what many believe is Israel’s finest winery. She was married to Dr. Alec Lerner, one of the senior board directors of Marks and Spencer, condolences to her two children.

PENN, Dalia

Born: 1936, Israel

Died: 9/13/2011, Israel

Dalia Penn’s western – actress:

Kid Vengeance – 1976 (Beth Thurston)

RIP Vincent Graeff

2011-11-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

Vincent B. Graeff

September 14, 1931 - February 8, 2011

Vincent Bernard Graeff, 79, died in his home on Tuesday, February 8, 2011. Vince is survived by his loving wife Pat and his children Rita, Mark, Richard, Tisha and Bill Dunn. Also by his grandchildren Scott, Steve, Sandy, Ryan, Anthony, Luca, Sheila, Sherri and Kendell and his great grandchildren Scott Jr., Justin and baby Koester.

He was born in San Ysidro, Ca. on September 14, 1931, grew up in the Movie industry as a child actor playing parts in such movies as: Our Gang Comedies, Fighting Father Dunn, Boys Ranch, and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn along with many more during his childhood.

Vincent enlisted in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He received a Purple Heart while serving in the 4th Marine Regiment of the 1st Marine Division.

After a career as a sheet metal worker, he retired to Redding California on the Sacramento River and then to Henderson, Nevada. He enjoyed being with his family, golfing, boating, dancing and building or fixing things around the house. He truly will be missed.

GRAEFF, Vincent (Vincent Bernard Graeff)

Born: 9/14/1931, San Ysidro, California, U.S.A.

Died: 2/8/2011, Henderson, Nevada, U.S.A.

Vincent Graeff's westerns - actor:

Buffalo Bill - 1944 (crippled boy)

The Harvey Girld - 1946 (boy)