RIP Tony Curtis

Tony Curtis
June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010

Obituary in the LA Times

RIP Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal

Born January 20, 1926

Died August 8, 2010

Obituary from The Alliance of Women Film Journalists

Obituary from the New York Times

RIP Lynn Redgrave

Lynn Redgrave
March 8, 1943 - May 2, 2010

From her obituary on The Guardian website:

She appeared on Broadway in 2005. . .receiving the best reviews for her performance as Mrs Culver in Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife at the Roundabout theatre. "Every night, for a couple of hours," she said, "I wasn't a person with cancer. You almost feel like yourself when there's so much evidence, mainly the mirror, to show you you aren't. It was true 'Doctor Theatre'."

RIP Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren

January 22, 1946 - April 8, 2010

The history of rock 'n roll wouldn't be the same without this man.

There is a nice obit on nytimes.com.

RIP Corey Haim

I found myself more saddened than I expected myself to be over the tragic death of Corey Haim. My eleven and twelve year old self would beg my mom to buy me every teeny bopper magazine from Bop to Tiger Beat every time I accompanied her to the grocery store and I would lovingly clip the photos of my current celebrity crushes and paste them to my bedroom walls. Corey Haim was of course one of these crushes along with Chad Allen (I didn't know he was gay, I swear!), Kirk Cameron (I didn't know he was a religious nut, I swear!), and, the ultimate hearthrob of my younger days, River Phoenix (thinking of his untimely death still breaks my heart). I must have watched Lucas, License to Drive, The Lost Boys, and Dream a Little Dream dozens and dozens of times in order to bask in the boyish charm of Corey Haim with his lopsided grin, spiky hair, and squeaky voice. Of those films Lucas holds up the best. It is still a remarkably touching story of a geeky boy who never quite fits in until his showy ploy to impress the girl of his dreams grabs the attention of everyone around him with his bravery in the face of his stupidity. I watched this film just a few months ago when I came across it on cable and the final scene where Lucas finds the letterman jacket in his locker and all the kids applaud him still makes me tear up a little. From now on when I watch this film, and I have no doubt that I will watch it again, it will be with an entirely new level of sadness in realizing that all the promise Corey showed with this role was never realized and now that he is gone, never will be.

Rest in peace, Corey.

RIP Alexander McQueen

RIP Alexander McQueen.
The fashion world will miss you.

RIP J.D. Salinger

J.D Salinger on the cover of Time Magazine, September 15, 1961

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. He was an old man, but his passing still hurts. His reclusiveness, depriving the world of any words or images, has made it seem as if he has never aged. And haven't we all been hoping that he'd eventually break his silence? Publish something again? Anything! It's over now.


This bit from The Catcher in the Rye jumps out at me now that he has passed:

"Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody."

Obituary on NPR.org

RIP Jean Simmons

Born January 31, 1929
Died January 22, 2010

Obituary in the New York Times
I've always enjoyed Jean Simmons. I first remember her from TV. She starred in those great mini-series The Thorn Birds and North and South. But as I discovered older films, I discovered her too in things like Young Bess and Guys and Dolls and Olivier's Hamlet. In these later years, I really loved her in How to Make an American Quilt.

Here she is in a scene from Until They Sail, a little known WWII film from 1957. This is the scene where she first meets my darling Paul Newman, an American soldier stationed for a short time in her New Zealand port town.

RIP Kate McGarrigle

RIP Kate McGarrigle
Born February 6, 1946
Died January 18, 2010

RIP Dennis Stock

"Art is a well-articulated manifestation of an aspect of life. I have been privileged to view much of life through my cameras, making the journey an enlightened experience. My emphasis has mainly been on affirmative reactions to human behavior and a strong attraction to the beauty in nature."

Dennis Stock - Born July 24, 1928 - Died January 11, 2010

Photographer Dennis Stock has passed. He is most famous for the iconic shots he took of James Dean in 1954-1955, but he took other amazing photographs. You can view his work on the Magnum Photos site here. I'm naturally drawn to the photos he took while working in Hollywood for Magnum. He took great candids and portraits of some of the biggest stars of the era.

Audrey Hepburn 1954

Montgomery Clift 1960

Miles Davis 1958

Grace Kelly 1964

Frank Sinatra 1961

Marilyn Monroe 1953

Louis Armstrong 1958

James Dean 1955

James Dean 1955

James Dean 1954

James Dean 1955

RIP Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer
Born April 4, 1920
Died January 11, 2010

RIP Jennifer Jones

Born March 2, 1919
Died December 17, 2009

Obituary from the Telegraph.co.uk

"If you could choose one characteristic that would get you through life, choose a sense of humor."

Goodbye Cyd Charisse. . .

All the great ones are leaving us! Cyd Charisse died today at 86. There was no one taller, leggier, or more smoldering than Cyd! She was fabulous!

Watch her dance in this clip from the film Meet Me In Las Vegas:

Rest in Peace Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack has died and I'm all broke up about it. I adored Sydney Pollack. There was something about when Sydney acted in a movie or on a television show, no matter how small the part, that made me blissfully happy and would immediately elevate said movie or TV show to something greater then mere mediocrity. As a matter of fact I just found out that he plays Patrick Dempsey's dad in the new film Made of Honor which means I'm going to have to see that cheesefest now! Oh and by the way he was a damn fine director too!

Here's a short list of the things I love about Sydney:

He played Will's dad on Will & Grace. Oh my goodness, he was loveable in this role! It was after seeing his myriad guest appearances here that made me wish that Sydney Pollack was my dad. Or that my dad could at least in part be like Sydney Pollack: kind, warm, accepting, yet open to admitting his flaws. That's what a dad should be! Lucky, lucky Will!

The Way We Were gets me every time! I don't care what anyone says. I love this schmaltzy romance! Robert Redford is so handsome and charming and Barbra Streisand is so goofy and feisty. And of course I love when my pop culture collides and in SATC Season Two when Carrie meets up with Big and says of his bride-to-be Natasha, "Your girl is lovely, Hubble" I screamed with joy!

Out of Africa - the man could direct a romance, let me tell you! Robert Redford again, Meryl Streep as beautiful as she ever was, a hair washing scene to make a girl's toes curl! Oh and it only won seven Academy Awards including two for Pollack!

Not only directed Tootsie but played the agent to perfection!

In Husbands and Wives he even made smarmy somewhat charming. Sydney Pollack plus Woody Allen was a match made in Heaven.

He was the best thing about Eyes Wide Shut. Apparently Harvey Keitel had to drop out so Sydney stepped in and hooray for us because he is awesome.

He directed my beloved Paul Newman to an Oscar nomination. If you want to see a great film about the ethics of journalism, watch Absence of Malice.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is one crazy, f*cked up film! Have you ever seen this??? It's about a bizarro Depression Era dance marathon where people basically kill themselves by dancing for weeks on end to win $1500. This movie still holds the record for most Oscar nominations (nine) without a Best Picture nomination! In another wonderful pop culture reference there is an awesome, pivotal episode of Gilmore Girls called They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They in which Rory and Lorelei compete in the annual Stars Hollow Dance Marathon.


There is more than this, but all this Pollack reminiscing is making me even sadder so I'm going to stop now. Thanks for the memories Sydney! You will be missed behind and in front of the camera!

Now for your viewing pleasure I am including some great youtube stuff:

Final scene of The Way We Were:



Sex & The City episode where the girls talk about the film and then their version of the same scene:



An early scene from They Shoot Horses, Don't They?



A small snippet from They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?



Sydney in Tootsie: