The Silver Screen Oasis

Thank you for the heads-up, Mike. One of Agnes' good friends, from the early days right through the end. Sad news indeed, but a full life lived.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/arts/07brown.html

According to Time magazine, Ronald Neame, director of "The Horse's Mouth," "Man with a Million," "tunes of Glory," "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "The Poseidon Adventure" died last week at the age of 99.

Lord, how did I miss that Neame passed away? Did IMDB report it? I tend to check the site every day, and usually they're good about reporting the deaths of even the lowest-profile stars. And Neame's output was far from obscure.

I've gone on in other threads about how I adore The Poseidon Adventure, but another that's I've grown to like in recent years is The Horse's Mouth. Much has been made of Guinness's performance, but my favorite of the bunch -and the one I find most sympathetic - is Kay Walsh's bitter and sad character.

I need to revisit The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as soon as possible. This is another I viewed at an age when I suppose I was too young to understand and appreciate it.

srowley75 wrote: I need to revisit The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as soon as possible. This is another I viewed at an age when I suppose I was too young to understand and appreciate it.

So very true. It was on last night - I don't think I paid attention to which channel - maybe Fox Movie Channel -- but I loved it, and my 25 year old daughter hated it. As I recall, when I was 25 I didn't love Miss Brodie, or Smith's performance as Miss Brodie -- as much as I do now.

Och, Miss Brrrrrodie!

This is all I could find so far, but it was enough to ruin my evening:

James Gammon passes.

Actor James Gammon, best known as coach Lous Brown in the Major League film died Friday at his daughter’s home in Costa Mesa, Ca. He was 70 years old and passed after a long battle with cancer. He will be missed.

I recall him best from The Milagro Beanfield War, and for his regular role as Don Johnson's dad on "Nash Bridges".
I just always wished he'd done more!

I remember him in a series of westerns. A great voice and a great mustache.

Klon,

I agree, he was one of the best character actors around and he had that deep gravely voice that just fight him to a tee.

I will miss him, too. Major League is a major guilty pleasure of mine.

RIP Daniel Schorr, one of the greatest and my favorite journalist. Saturday mornings will never be the same.

MichiganJ wrote:RIP Daniel Schorr, one of the greatest and my favorite journalist. Saturday mornings will never be the same.

Yes, one of the very last of his kind. I, too, will miss his commentary on NPR. Condolences to his family and his many colleagues.

Not sure what impresses me more about Schorr, that he was on Nixon's Enemies List or that he performed on-stage with Frank Zappa.

I just wish Nixon had spent time with Frank Zappa instead of Jack Webb.

Pardon moi for posting on my own coattails, but:

Writer-director Tom Mankiewicz dies
Aug. 2, 2010, 5:58 PM EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tom Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of such James Bond films as "Diamonds Are Forever," "Live and Let Die" and the first two "Superman" movies, has died in Los Angeles at 68.

Mankiewicz died Saturday at his home after battling cancer. He underwent the Whipple operation, which is used to treat pancreatic cancer, three months ago.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

He was a member of Hollywood's legendary Mankiewicz family: His father was Joseph L. Mankiewicz, director of classics including "All About Eve," "A Letter to Three Wives" and "The Barefoot Contessa." He was also the nephew of "Citizen Kane" co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Tom Mankiewicz directed the 1987 movie "Dragnet," starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, and several episodes of the TV series "Hart to Hart."


Search: Tom Mankiewicz
View results for: Tom Mankiewicz dies Mankiewicz family His cousin, Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz, said Monday that Tom Mankiewicz was in good spirits when they had lunch last week and was looking forward to returning this fall to Chapman University in Orange, Calif., where he taught filmmaking to graduate students.

"He was hopeful," Ben Mankiewicz said. "He left lunch in a very good mood. He told stories about John Wayne and Michael Curtiz, and how he was going to get me to appreciate John Ford's 'The Searchers' more."

The Palm restaurant, where he ate daily, held his regular booth empty Monday in his honor.

Mankiewicz began his career as an assistant director on Curtiz's last film, "The Comancheros" in 1961, in which Wayne starred.

In 1970, he was hired to rewrite "Diamonds Are Forever," which was the beginning of a longtime association with the Broccoli family and the Bond franchise. He also wrote "The Man With the Golden Gun," and made uncredited contributions to "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker."

Director Richard Donner asked Mankiewicz to rewrite and condense the scripts for 1978's "Superman" and the 1980 sequel "Superman II," for which he received credit as a creative consultant but not as a writer.

"Making 'Superman' was only possible because when Tom came in, he brought his sense of humor and brought those characters to life," Donner said in a family statement. "A lot of people in this town have 'the gift of gab.' Tom's was unique; there was always a true emotional center."

Mankiewicz again went by the "creative consultant" credit on "Hart to Hart," which aired from 1979-1984, even though he was a writer and director on the series.

"I don't think it's easy trying to succeed in Hollywood as a Mankiewicz, and especially as Joe Mankiewicz's son," Ben Mankiewicz said of the four-time Oscar winner. "But Tom carved out his own sort of realm of success, and I think it was pretty impressive."

Tom Mankiewicz is survived by his brother Christopher, a film producer; his sister, Alexandra; his nephew, Jason; and many cousins working in film, television or journalism.

Robert Boyle, long-time Hollywood Art Director and Honorary Oscar winner, has died.

From the LA Times:

Robert F. Boyle, a four-time Oscar-nominated production designer best known for his work on Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" and "The Birds" and Norman Jewison's "Fiddler on the Roof," has died. He was 100.

Boyle died of natural causes Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a two-day stay, said family spokeswoman Nicole Bamber.

"For us as a guild, it's a loss of one of our great masters," said Tom Walsh, president of the Art Directors Guild. "His career spans such a great distance of the American movie culture, starting in the early '30s at Paramount.

For more: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 3411.story

Boyle was married to the wonderful screenwriter Bess Taffel, whose career was curtailed by blacklisting. Taffel wrote the scripts for two very good second feature comedies I've told you about -- Elopement, with Clifton Webb, and A Likely Story, with Bill Williams and Barbara Hale. I belive Taffel passed away about 10 years ago.

Mitch Miller died on July 31 at age 99.