Gone With or Without fanfare

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moira finnie
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by moira finnie »

Silver Screen Oasis friend and former guest author, Scott Nollen has a sad announcement:

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I just learned that my good friend and colleague, Michael A. Hoey, writer-director and the son of actor Dennis Hoey (Inspector Lestrade in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series), passed away on Sunday (August 17). He fought a long battle with lung cancer and was very positive until his treatments proved ineffective recently.

He welcomed me into his home in San Clemente, we watched his films together, and he so kindly wrote the foreword for my book THREE BAD MEN: JOHN FORD, JOHN WAYNE, WARD BOND. I had been looking forward to collaborating on a book project dealing with films about returning WWII veterans, but it was not to be. In his last email to me about a month ago, he seemed resigned to his fate and knew he would be leaving us soon. I was hoping he'd make it to his 80th birthday next month.

Farewell, my dear friend, Michael A. Hoey (1934-2014). He was a wonderful filmmaker, a true connection to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and a very nice and generous man.

Sadly, this is the first time that a guest author who visited this site has passed away. Our condolences to his family and friends.
You can see the partial visit that Mr. Hoey was able to make during his health struggles here: http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... =36&t=6616

The Hollywood Reporter has published an obituary for Mr. Hoey with the title of "Michael A. Hoey, Producer, Director and Elvis Screenwriter, Dies at 79," written by Mike Barnes.
Michael A. Hoey, who wrote the screenplays for a pair of Elvis Presley films and was the architect behind the 1966 cult science-fiction movie The Navy vs. the Night Monsters, has died. He was 79.

Hoey, the son of English actor Dennis Hoey — who played the bumbling Inspector Lestrade in the 1940s Universal Pictures series of Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce — died Sunday of cancer at his home in San Clemente, Calif., his son Dennis told The Hollywood Reporter.

Michael Hoey also produced, wrote, directed and edited several episodes of the 1980s music drama series Fame, based on the Alan Parker box-office hit. He earned two Emmy Award nominations for his work on the show and wrote a behind-the-scenes book about the series that was published in 2010.

Hoey penned the scripts for the Presley films Stay Away, Joe and Live a Little, Love a Little, both released in 1968. For the latter, he worked with director Norman Taurog, who also helmed the teen comedy Palm Springs Weekend (1963), a film that Hoey produced.

In The Navy vs. the Night Monsters, a staff manning a weather station on an isolated island fights for survival against a carnivorous plant-like species that spews acid, moves around at night and reproduces quickly.

The cast included Anthony Eisely, Mamie Van Doren, Bobby Van and Billy Gray, best known as the son on Father Knows Best. Jack Broder produced (with an uncredited assist from Roger Corman) and gave the movie what Hoey once called its “abominable” title.

“I remember the day when I was rehearsing and Jack Broder walked in and announced what the new title was going to be,” Hoey told author Tom Weaver. “The entire cast was ready to walk out. They were furious.”

In the interview with Weaver, Hoey said the film had a 10-day shooting schedule and cost $178,000 to make.

Born in London and raised in Beverly Hills, Hoey began his Hollywood career as an editor, working for such top-notch directors as John Ford, George Cukor and Fred Zinnemann. Studio head Jack Warner made him a producer for Palm Springs Weekend, which starred Troy Donahue, Robert Conrad, Stefanie Powers and Connie Stevens.

Hoey later would direct episodes of Dallas, Falcon Crest, Murder, She Wrote and Crossroads Café; wrote for the shows The Rat Patrol, Get Christie Love! and McCloud; and served for years as executive producer of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

He also wrote the books Elvis, Sherlock and Me: How I Survived Growing Up In Hollywood; Sherlock Holmes and the Fabulous Faces: The Universal Pictures Repertory Company; and Elvis’ Favorite Director: The Amazing 52-Year Career of Norman Taurog.

He served two four-year terms as a governor on the board of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the WGA honored him with its prestigious Morgan Cox Award in 1997.

Hoey asked that his film books be donated to the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where he taught editing as an adjunct professor.

In addition to his son Dennis, a former Hollywood makeup artist and producer of TV commercials, survivors include his daughters Lauren and Karin.

The family plans a small memorial service, with his ashes scattered at sea.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

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The BBC has announced that actor/director Richard Attenborough has died. He was 90 years old.

There is speculation that this may be hoax though the Hollywood Reporter has picked up the news from the Beeb and says, "more to follow" in the short blurb they published on-line.

Stay tuned.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

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Turns out, not to be a hoax,

Sir Richard Attenborough has died at the age of 90.

From the Hollywood Reporter:

Sir Richard Attenborough, whose 20-year crusade to bring the life of Mahatma Gandhi to the screen culminated in eight Academy Awards for Gandhi, including a best director Oscar for him, has died, his son tells BBC News.

A producer, director and actor, Attenborough won a BAFTA Award for his acting in 1964 (he was double nominated for Séance on a Wet Afternoon and Guns at Batasi). He won two Golden Globes for his acting in The Sand Pebbles (1966) and Dr. Dolittle (1967), and one for direction, Oh! What A Lovely War (1969).

"Richard Attenborough was one of the greats of cinema," said British Prime Minister David Cameron in a statement on Twitter.

An actor who appeared in more than 70 films, Attenborough also won the top acting award at the Berlin Festival for The Angry Silence (1960). Under his direction, a succession of actors scored Oscar nominations, including Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom (1987), Robert Downey Jr. in Chaplin (1992) and Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands (1993).

Richard Samuel Attenborough was born Aug. 29, 1923, in Cambridge, England. He was knighted in 1976 and became a life peer in 1993. During a multifaceted career, Attenborough also served as chairman of RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Attenborough co-starred with Steve McQueen in The Great Escape (1963), playing the nervy mastermind behind the escape. In 1966, he appeared with James Stewart in The Flight of the Phoenix. He followed up with two Golden Globe-winning performances in The Sand Pebbles and Dr. Dolittle (1967). Back in England, he co-starred with Shirley MacLaine in The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968).

He made his breakthrough in direction in 1968 with Oh! What a Lovely War, a parody of patriotism, which was known at the time for having Beatle John Lennon in its cast. The film went on to win 16 international awards, including another Golden Globe.

Following his lifetime triumph with Gandhi (1982), he directed a number of top films, including the film adaptation of A Chorus Line (1985), the anti-apartheid Cry Freedom (1987) and the biopic Chaplin.

Following Chaplin, he made a return to the screen at the behest of longtime admirer Steven Spielberg, starring in Jurassic Park (1993) as John Hammond. He reprised the role again in Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997) and, in a similar vein, he is featured on Universal Studios' Jurassic Park ride, assuring riders in the short film that precedes the tour that the ride is perfectly safe.

"Dickie Attenborough was passionate about everything in his life — family, friends, country and career," Spielberg said in a statement. "He made a gift to the world with his emotional epic Ghandi, and he was the perfect ringmaster to bring the dinosaurs back to life as John Hammond in Jurassic Park. He was a dear friend, and I am standing in an endless line of those who completely adored him."
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"Film is history. With every foot of film lost, we lose a link to our culture, to the world around us, to each other and to ourselves."

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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by Sue Sue Applegate »

Here's a link to a short article I wrote about the passing of Sir Richard Attenborough: http://www.examiner.com/article/actor-a ... ugh-passes
I was so sorry to hear of his passing, but his life's ambition was to make a film about the life of Gandhi, and he did. And so much more. :D
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by Rita Hayworth »

My Top Ten Richard Attenborough Films

1. Miracle on 34th Street - 1994 Film
2. Rosebud - 1975 Film
3. The Magic Christian - 1969 Film
4. The Sand Pebbles - 1966 Film
5. The Great Escape - 1963 Film
6. Dunkirk - 1958 Film
7. Jurassic Park - 1993 Film
8. The Lost World - Jurassic Park - 1997 Film
9. Elisabeth - 1998 Film
10. Guns at Batasi - 1964 Film

A great actor, director, and most of all a wonderful gifted man - I loved him in these films above and everyone of them is a winner in my book.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by Western Guy »

Agreed. Pinky is one of the most ruthless gangsters ever committed to celluloid.

But I hasten to add Attenborough was even more repellant and chilling as the soft-spoken psychopathic murderer Christie in 10 RILLINGTON PLACE.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by JackFavell »

I sadly realized Attenborough had passed away while watching TCM a few minutes ago. Ack! Another great talent has gone.

No one has mentioned his sensitive first performance in In Which We Serve or the chilling portrayal of John (ugh) Christie in 10 Rillington Place (a movie I will not forget and will never watch again, it creeped me out so much!). Or his turn in I'm All RIght, Jack. Or The League of Gentlemen.

And his producing talent was at least as prodigious as his acting or directing talent... here are some of the films Attenborough produced:

The Angry Silence
Whistle Down the Wind
The L-Shaped Room
Séance on a Wet Afternoon
Young Winston
Oh! What a Lovely War
Shadowlands
Cry Freedom
Chaplin
Gandhi


Some of these films took him 20 years to get off the ground. So I rate him as a tenacious producer, as well as actor and director.

Though his performances as spivs and weasels are some of the best, certainly the most psychopathic in British cinema, I prefer at the end to picture him as the noble, stubborn, thoughtful, hard-headed, but ultimately self-sacrificing man, Roger Bartlett, or "X", in The Great Escape.
Last edited by JackFavell on August 25th, 2014, 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by JackFavell »

Oops! Sorry Stone, I swear your post didn't pop up until just now. So we both mentioned 10 (ugh) RIllington Place. Yikes!
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

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Yes, Wendy. But it is worth repeating. Attenborough's Christie makes Sir Anthony's Hannibal Lecter look like a cub scout.

Subtle evil is always more chillingly effective than overt threat.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by RedRiver »

Pinky is one of the most ruthless gangsters ever committed to celluloid.

He's pretty mean in print as well. A fan of Graham Greene's creepy thriller, I've never seen the movie. It's not one that makes the rounds often.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

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R.R., try and track down the movie. I think it's now on DVD. A terrific film with one of the most . . . well, as Leonard Maltin says: "cynical endings."
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

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I just received word that director Andrew V. McLaglen passed away on August 31. No further details yet. But a director of some wonderful entertaining Westerns, including my #3 favorite SHENANDOAH.
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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by moira finnie »

Oh, he was a lovely man from reports by those who knew him. I was delighted when a friend told me he wsas directing Chekov & Ibsen & O'Casey for a little theater in retirement in the pacific northwest. Good life.

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Re: Gone With or Without fanfare

Post by Western Guy »

Moira, love your avatar. Speaking of lovely men, Jack LaRue fit right into that category.

What a great picture! Wonder if he was doing kitchen duty at his famous restaurant.
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