In Memory Of ...

[ghost2509]

Ed Fury, Bodybuilder and Star of ‘Sword and Sandal’ Films, Dies at 94

The Hollywood Reporter
yahoo.com
Mike Barnes
March 7, 2023

Ed Fury, the Muscle Beach bodybuilder who starred as the mighty warrior Ursus in three Italian “sword and sandal” epics, has died. He was 94.

Fury died Feb. 24 at his home in Woodland Hills, his wife, Shelly, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In 1953 alone, Fury appeared uncredited in seven films, including Abbott and Costello Go to Mars, Dangerous When Wet, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Island in the Sky and The Eddie Cantor Story.

Later, he showed up in The Country Girl (1954), Athena (1954), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), Hell and High Water (1954), Female on the Beach (1955), I Died a Thousand Times (1955), Raw Edge (1956), Bus Stop (1956), South Pacific (1958) and The Wild Women of Wongo (1958).

After he auditioned for Joshua Logan and landed a role on Broadway in the 1954-56 musical Fanny, Italian film producers in the audience visited him backstage and signed him to a contract.

Fury appeared opposite Rod Taylor in the Italian comedy Colossus and the Amazon Queen (1960), then starred in Ursus (1961). He returned as the mythological hero in Valley of the Lions (1961) and Ursus in the Land of Fire (1963) and toplined another Italian epic, Maciste Against the Sheikh (1962).

“I believe in a healthy mind and a healthy body,” the actor told Skip E. Lowe in a 1988 interview. “You see, this is what you have, you better take care of it, or it won’t take care of you. … You’re dead a long time, you better have fun now and enjoy yourself, because that’s what we’re here for.”

An orphan, Rupert Edmund Holovchik was born in Los Angeles on June 6, 1928. He became known to the crowd at Muscle Beach and posed for the Athletic Model and Bruce of L.A. physique studios and for covers of Muscles magazine and other publications.

Following Fanny, he worked for Logan on the big screen in Bus Stop and South Pacific.

Later, he appeared on episodes of Gilligan’s Island, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, The Doris Day Show, The Odd Couple, Columbo, Barnaby Jones and Fantasy Island.

Fury also wrote lots of scripts and songs, his wife said. She met him in 1955, and they married shortly afterward.

Mystic Meg has died aged 80 just weeks after being hospitalised with the flu.

The iconic astrologer, who shot to fame with her weekly National Lottery predictions, passed away at 3.45am this morning.

It comes after the legendary horoscope reader, real name Margaret Lake, was admitted to St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, last month.

Tributes have poured in for the star, who lived alone with her seven cats in a three-bedroom flat in Notting Hill. She previously said the feline friends had 'found her and moved in.'

Her agent of 34 years, Dave Shapland, told the Sun: 'Without any question, she was Britain's most famous astrologer by a million miles.

http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11839191/Mystic-Meg-dies-aged-80-National-Lottery-astrologer-dies-short-illness.html

Chaim Topol, a leading Israeli actor who charmed generations of theatergoers and movie-watchers with his portrayal of Tevye, the long-suffering and charismatic milkman in Fiddler on the Roof, has died at 87 in Tel Aviv, Israeli leaders said Thursday.

The cause was not immediately released, as Topol had battled Alzheimer's disease for years, according to Deadline.

A recipient of two Golden Globe awards and nominee for both an Academy Award and a Tony Award, Topol long has ranked among Israel's most decorated actors.

More recently in 2015, he was celebrated for his contributions to film and culture with the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement, his country´s most prestigious honor.

Up until a few years ago, he remained involved in theater and said he still fielded requests to play Tevye.

http://dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11838639/Chaim-Topol-Israeli-actor-known-Fiddlers-Tevye-dies.html

[ghost2509]

Robert Blake, actor acquitted in wife's killing, dies at 89

AP
yahoo.com
LINDA DEUTSCH
March 9, 2023

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died Thursday at age 89.

A statement released on behalf of his niece, Noreen Austin, said Blake died from heart disease, surrounded by family at home in Los Angeles.

Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, "Baretta," had once hoped for a comeback, but he never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court.

Once hailed as among the finest actors of his generation, Blake became better known as the center of a real-life murder trial, a story more bizarre than any in which he acted. Many remembered him not as the rugged, dark-haired star of “Baretta,” but as a spectral, white-haired murder defendant.

In a 2002 interview with The Associated Press while he was jailed awaiting trial, he bemoaned the change in his status with his fans nationwide: "It hurt because America is the only family I had."

He was adamant that he had not killed his wife and a jury ultimately acquitted him. But a civil jury would find him liable for her death and order him to pay Bakley's family $30 million, a judgment which sent him into bankruptcy. The daughter he and Bakley had together, Rose Lenore, was raised by other relatives and went for years without seeing Blake, until they spoke in 2019. She would tell People magazine that she called him “Robert,” not “Dad.”

It was an ignominious finale for a life lived in the spotlight from childhood. As a youngster, he starred in the "Our Gang" comedies and acted in a movie classic, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." As an adult, he was praised for his portrayal of real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote's true crime best seller "In Cold Blood."

His career peaked with the 1975-78 TV cop series, "Baretta." He starred as a detective who carried a pet cockatoo on his shoulder and was fond of disguises. It was typical of his specialty, portraying tough guys with soft hearts, and its signature line: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," was often quoted.

Blake won a 1975 Emmy for his portrayal of Tony Baretta, although behind the scenes the show was wracked by disputes involving the temperamental star. He gained a reputation as one of Hollywood's finest actors, but one of the most difficult to work with. He later admitted to struggles with alcohol and drug addiction in his early life.

In 1993, Blake won another Emmy as the title character in, "Judgment Day: the John List Story," portraying a soft-spoken, churchgoing man who murdered his wife and three children.

Blake's career had slowed down well before the trial. He made only a handful of screen appearances after the mid-1980s; his last project was in David Lynch's “Lost Highway,” released in 1997. According to his niece, Blake had spent his recent years “enjoying jazz music, playing his guitar, reading poetry, and watching many Hollywood Classic films.”

He was born Michael James Gubitosi on Sept. 18, 1933, in Nutley, New Jersey. His father, an Italian immigrant and his mother, an Italian American, wanted their three children to succeed in show business. At age 2, Blake was performing with a brother and sister in a family vaudeville act called, "The Three Little Hillbillies."

When his parents moved the family to Los Angeles, his mother found work for the kids as movie extras and little Mickey Gubitosi was plucked from the crowd by producers who cast him in the "Our Gang" comedies. He appeared in the series for five years and changed his name to Bobby Blake.

He went on to work with Hollywood legends, playing the young John Garfield in "Humoresque" in 1946 and the little boy who sells Humphrey Bogart a crucial lottery ticket in the Oscar-winning “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

In adulthood, he landed serious movie roles. The biggest breakthrough was in 1967 with "In Cold Blood." Later there were films including, "Tell Them Willie Boy is Here" and "Electra Glide in Blue."

In 1961, Blake and actress Sondra Kerr married and had two children, Noah and Delinah. They divorced in 1983.

His fateful meeting with Bakley came in 1999 at a jazz club where he went to escape loneliness.

"Here I was, 67 or 68 years old. My life was on hold. My career was stalled out," he said in the AP interview. "I'd been alone for a long time."

He said he had no reason to dislike Bakley: "She took me out of the stands and put me back in the arena. I had something to live for."

When Bakley gave birth to a baby girl, she named Christian Brando — son of Marlon — as the father. But DNA tests pointed to Blake.

Blake first saw the little girl, named Rosie, when she was two months old and she became the focus of his life. He married Bakley because of the child.

"Rosie is my blood. Rosie is calling to me," he said. "I have no doubt that Rosie and I are going to walk off into the sunset together."

Prosecutors would claim that he planned to kill Bakley to get sole custody of the baby and tried to hire hitmen for the job. But evidence was muddled and a jury rejected that theory.

On her last night alive, Blake and his 44-year-old wife dined at a neighborhood restaurant, Vitello's. He claimed she was shot when he left her in the car and returned to the restaurant to retrieve a handgun he had inadvertently left behind. Police were initially baffled and Blake was not arrested until a year after the crime occurred.

Once a wealthy man, he spent millions on his defense and wound up living on social security and a Screen Actor's Guild pension.

In a 2006 interview with the AP a year after his acquittal, Blake said he hoped to restart his career.

"I'd like to give my best performance," he said. "I'd like to leave a legacy for Rosie about who I am. I'm not ready for a dog and fishing pole yet. I'd like to go to bed each night desperate to wake up each morning and create some magic."

[ghost2509]

Lance Reddick, Memorable Star of ‘The Wire,’ ‘John Wick’ Series, Dead at 60
The actor's reps confirmed his death, though a cause was not immediately given

Rolling Stone
Jon Blistein
Mar. 17, 2023

Lance Reddick, the exceptional character actor famous for his performances in The Wire and the John Wick franchise, has died. He was 60.

Reddick’s reps confirmed his death to Rolling Stone, saying he “passed away suddenly this morning from natural causes.” The statement continues, “He is survived by his wife Stephanie Reddick and children Yvonne Nicole Reddick and Christopher Reddick. Donations in his memory can be made to momcares.org in Baltimore, his hometown. Lance will be greatly missed. Please respect his family’s privacy at this time.”

Reddick enjoyed a prolific, nearly 30-year career as a professional actor. Along with The Wire, he had notable roles in hit TV shows like Oz, Lost, Fringe, and Bosch. His movie credits included action flicks like White House Down and Godzilla vs. Kong, as well as Spike Lee’s remake of Oldboy. And he frequently did voice overwork for blockbuster video games like the Quantum Break, the Destiny franchise, and Horizon Zero Dawn.

“A man of great strength and grace,” wrote one of Reddick’s Wire co-stars, Wendell Pierce, on Twitter. “As talented a musician as he was an actor. The epitome of class. An sudden unexpected sharp painful grief for our artistic family. An unimaginable suffering for his personal family and loved ones. Godspeed my friend. You made your mark here.

Born June 7, 1962 and raised in Baltimore, Reddick was initially headed for a life in music. He studied classical composition at the illustrious Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, but after moving to Boston, he struggled to find any purchase as a professional musician. As he explained in a 2012 interview, he was working multiple jobs to make ends meet and support his family when he suffered a back injury that caused him to reconsider his career. It was then that he started to pursue acting (though he did return to music eventually, releasing an album in 2007).

Reddick started auditioning for and earning roles Boston, before securing a spot in another illustrious institution, the Yale School of Drama, where he earned a Masters of Fine Arts in 1994. Early parts came in the theater, with Reddick notably being cast as an understudy for Belize in Tony Kushner’s epic drama, Angels in America. Some small film and TV parts followed, including recurring roles on HBO’s prison drama Oz and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

His big breakthrough finally came in 2002 when he was cast as Cedrick Daniels, an honest cop in the Baltimore Police Department who rises from lieutenant to police commissioner only to (spoiler alert) resign after refusing to juice crime stats. Along with Lieutenant Daniels being an iconic role on an iconic TV show, Reddick said The Wire helped him realize “how important my work as an actor can be, socially and politically, not just artistically.”

The success of The Wire, followed by Reddick’s role as a Homeland Security agent in Fringe, did leave the actor with a bit of a typecasting problem. In fact, Reddick noted in a 2019 interview that he “flipped out” when he got the offer to play yet another cop on the Amazon procedural Bosch. Even though the role was a series regular part, Reddick said he thought it “could be the nail in the coffin in terms of typecasting.”

But around the same time he shot the pilot for Bosch in 2013, Reddick was finally starting to get the chance to show his range. He’d just filmed the first John Wick movie, in which he played Charon, the concierge at the underworld’s neutral ground, the Continental; and he’d gotten to play Papa Legba — an Iwa (spirit) in voodoo traditions — on American Horror Story: Coven. Around this time, he also had a role (albeit one as a military authority figure) in the acclaimed psychological thriller The Guest.

Of course, Reddick’s versatility was always evident if you knew where to look. Though certainly best known for his drama roles, he popped up in plenty of comedies as well, like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Key & Peele, and the celebrated dark comedy Corporate. During an appearance on The Eric Andre Show he even seemed to rattle the usually unflappable comedian — before doing an absolutely deranged, shirtless bit poking fun at LeVar Burton.

More recently, Reddick appeared in Regina King’s One Night in Miami…, the animated sitcom Paradise PD, and the Netflix series adaptation of Resident Evil. Always working, Reddick completed several more projects before his unexpected death, including the fourth John Wick movie, which arrives next week, March 24. He’s also set to appear posthumously in the the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians (he plays Zeus), as well as the White Men Can’t Jump remake and a new biopic of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman.

[ghost2509]

‘Star Wars' actor Paul Grant dead at 56: reports

KTLA-TV Los Angeles
msn.com
Story by Alix Martichoux
Mar. 20, 2023

Actor Paul Grant has died after collapsing outside a London train station, his family confirmed to British news outlets Monday. He was 56 years old.

Grant’s acting credits include parts in two of the biggest series in movie history, “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter.” He played an Ewok in “Return of the Jedi” and a goblin in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Grant was found by emergency crews Thursday afternoon and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced brain dead, according to Sky News. He was officially pronounced dead early Monday morning.

He collapsed at King’s Cross Station – a transit hub made famous internationally by the “Harry Potter” books and movies.

Grant’s daughter, Sophie Jayne Grant, told The Sun, “My dad was a legend in so many ways. … He always brought a smile and laughter to everyone's face.”

According to his IMDb page, Grant also acted in the 1986 movie “Labyrinth,” and did stunts in “Legend” and “Willow.”

[ghost2509]

Sharon Acker, Actress in ‘Point Blank’ and ‘Perry Mason,’ Dies at 87

The Hollywood Reporter
msn.com
Story by Mike Barnes
Apr. 1, 2023

Sharon Acker, the Canadian actress who portrayed Lee Marvin’s unfaithful wife in the 1967 neo-noir classic Point Blank and the right-hand woman Della Street opposite Monte Markham on a rebooted Perry Mason in the 1970s, has died. She was 87.

Acker died March 16 in a retirement home in her native Toronto, her daughter Kim Everest, a casting director, told The Hollywood Reporter.

tar Trek fans know Acker for her January 1969 turn as Odona, a desperate woman from an overpopulated planet, on the third-season episode “The Mark of Gideon.”

She also starred on a 1976-77 CBS adaptation of Executive Suite, playing the wife of Mitchell Ryan‘s Dan Walling. (Acker and Ryan assumed the parts performed by William Holden and June Allyson in the 1954 MGM film directed by Robert Wise.)

In John Boorman’s Point Blank, Acker’s character takes up with John Vernon’s Mal Reese after he shoots Walker (Marvin) and leaves him for dead after they rob a courier on Alcatraz. When Walker returns seeking revenge and his share of the loot, he manhandles her and riddles her bed with bullets.

Seven years after Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr as the iconic defense lawyer and Barbara Hale as his loyal secretary, concluded its nine-season run, CBS rebooted the series with Markham and Acker in 1973. However, it lasted just 15 episodes before being canceled.

Sharon Eileen Acker was born in Toronto on April 2, 1935, and adopted when she was 9. She attended Davisville Public School, John Fisher Public School and Northern Vocational School, where she studied art and graduated in 1953.

In 1956, she played the teacher Mrs. Stacey on a 1956 CBC adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and joined the Stratford Shakespeare Festival company, starring as Anne Page opposite future Star Trek co-star William Shatner in a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

She traveled to Europe to perform with the Stratford company in Henry V and remained there to make her big-screen debut in Lucky Jim (1957), starring Ian Carmichael and Terry-Thomas. British producers John and Ray Boulting called her “freshly appealing” and signed her to a seven-year contact, but she broke things off after getting married and having a child.

Back home, she appeared often on the acclaimed CBC series Festival and in 1961 portrayed Lady MacDuff alongside Sean Connery and Zoe Caldwell on a five-part adaptation of Macbeth, directed by Paul Almond.

Boorman hired her after seeing her on the CBC, and Point Blank marked her first role in the U.S. To promote the film, she and Angie Dickinson (who played her sister in the movie) appeared on the pages of Life magazine in August 1967 modeling “Well-Dressed Moll Styles in Alcatraz.”

After that, she was a welcome sight in guest stints on episodes of The Wild Wild West, Get Smart, It Takes a Thief, Lancer and Star Trek.

Acker was a divorcée who has a brief affair with a businessman (Arthur Hill) in the Canadian drama Don’t Let the Angels Fall (1969), which played in competition at Cannes. She was selected by the Motion Picture Exhibitors of Canada as their Film Star of Tomorrow that year.

And in 1970, she portrayed the wife of Hal Holbrook‘s idealistic Sen. Hays Stowe on the NBC drama The Bold Ones: The Senator.

Acker’s TV résumé also included such series as Alias Smith and Jones, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Mod Squad, Marcus Welby, M.D., Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, Police Story and Quincy, M.E.

Her last movie was the horror film Happy Birthday to Me (1981), and her final TV appearance came on The Young and the Restless in 1992. She retired from acting in ’94, returned to Canada with her late second husband, Peter Elkington, to live in a cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, and continue her passion for painting and sculpting.

Elkington died in 2001. Survivors include her children, Kim and Gillian; granddaughter Alexis; great-granddaughter Berkeley; and stepchildren Kim and Caitlin.

[SynchroDub]

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Japanese electronic music maestro dies



The renowned Japanese composer and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto, admired for his electronic music experimentation, has died aged 71.

He won awards - including an Oscar, a Grammy and Bafta - for his work as a solo artist and as a member of the Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO).

Sakamoto had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time in 2021. His office said he died on Tuesday.

He starred in the film Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence with David Bowie in 1983.

His film score for The Last Emperor, in 1987, won him an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe. He also acted in the movie, an epic about the life of Puyi, last emperor of China.

Sakamoto began studying composition at the age of 10 and was inspired by the Beatles and Debussy.

He set up YMO with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1978, playing keyboards, and their synthesizer innovations influenced techno-pop and hip-hop.

"Asian music heavily influenced Debussy, and Debussy heavily influenced me. So the music goes around the world and comes full circle," he said in 2010.

Prof Brian Cox, physicist and former keyboard player with the bands Dare and D:Ream, praised Sakamoto in a tweet: "He was a big part of my '80s musical experience - initially for me through his work with David Sylvian and Japan - but of course he leaves a magnificent catalogue of music behind".

In a 2018 interview Sakamoto described his striving to challenge the conventions of Western musical composition.

"When I write scores my thinking is limited in the forms of Western composition which I learned when I was a teen. But I always wanted to break it, break the wall, or limits I am trapped inside. Sometimes using electronics or blending with electronic sound can help to break this wall."

He also enjoyed exploring various musical styles. "After I wake up I start thinking, hmm, which music will I listen to," he said. "Sometimes by chance or randomly, you know, some music comes to my mind. To me there is no genre difference, or category differences. Music is music."

In Japan he was also famous as an environmental campaigner, especially after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

Born in 1952, his father was a literary editor for Japanese writers including Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe. As a student he was classically trained but later specialised in ethnomusicology at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He was fascinated by world music, including that of Okinawa island in Japan.

His later collaborations included work with Brian Eno, Alva Noto and cellist Jaques Morelenbaum. Sakamoto's daughter Miu Sakamoto is a J-pop singer.

[Pacy]

Bill Butler
April 7, 1921 – April 5, 2023

Bill Butler, Cinematographer on ‘Jaws,’ Dies at 101

Emmy-winning cinematographer Bill Butler, who was Oscar nominated for shooting “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and was also the D.P. on Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” died Wednesday, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He was 101.

Spielberg remembered Butler in a statement, saying, “On ‘Jaws,’ Bill Butler was the bedrock on that rickety, rocking boat called the Orca. He was the only calm in the middle of that storm, and as we went into a battle against nature and technology that wore both of us down, the audience eventually won the war. Bill’s outlook on life was pragmatic, philosophical and so very patient, and I owe him so much for his steadfast and creative contributions to the entire look of ‘Jaws.’”

In addition to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler served as d.p. on a number of other high-profile films of the 1970s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation,” “Grease,” “Ice Castles,” Bill Murray comedy hit “Stripes” and several entries in the “Rocky” franchise (but not the original).

On both “The Conversation” and “Cuckoo’s Nest,” Butler was brought in as replacement for the esteemed cinematographer Haskell Wexler.

Butler was also the cinematographer for “Demon Seed” and “Capricorn One” in the ’70s, as well as Neil Simon adaptation “Biloxi Blues” (1988), horror film “Child’s Play” (1988), Prince musical drama “Graffiti Bridge” (1990), “Flipper” (1996), “Anaconda” (1997) and the Pate brothers’ well-regarded 1997 murder mystery film “Deceiver,” starring Tim Roth and Renee Zellweger. Butler worked into the new century, by which time he was in his 80s, shooting Bill Paxton’s critically hailed 2001 crime drama “Frailty” and the 2006 Chevy Chase comedy “Funny Money.”

Butler also worked a great deal in television, winning Emmy Awards in 1977 for shooting the telepic “Raid on Entebbe” and in 1984 for cinematography on an adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” starring Ann-Margret and Treat Williams. He was also nominated in 1983 for ABC miniseries “The Thorn Birds.”

Recounting the “Jaws” shoot in an interview with Moviemaker magazine in 2005, Butler said, “About 90 percent of the shots on the boat were handheld.” Camera operator Michael Chapman “was intrigued by the idea and was very good at it. We did things that we probably wouldn’t have tried without the lightweight camera” — a handheld Panaflex. “Michael even climbed the mast and shot from the top straight down. We also put him in a small boat.”

Reviewing the “Jaws” Blu-ray edition for the American Society of Cinematographers website, Kenneth Sweeney wrote: “Cinematographer Bill Butler, who worked closely with Spielberg establishing a look for ‘Jaws’ that simulated a person’s point of view while swimming, spent most of his time on the picture in the water with the director. Butler created a special camera platform that worked with the water to accommodate both ‘below the water line’ and ‘surface’ shots quickly. To handle the longer surface shots the film required, Butler vigorously reconfigured the standard ‘water box’ casing used to hold a camera in the water.” Sweeney also noted that Butler “heroically” saved footage from a camera that sank in the ocean.

Wilmer C. Butler was born in Cripple Creek, Colo., where his early upbringing was rustic, but he was raised mainly in the small Iowa college town of Mount Pleasant. Butler attended Ohio Wesleyan University, Iowa Wesleyan College and the University of Iowa, studying electronics but graduating with a degree in engineering.

Butler began his career in the entertainment industry as an engineer at a radio station in Gary, Indiana. He helped design and build the first television stations at ABC’s Chicago affiliate and later at WGN-TV. After WGN went on-air, Butler operated a live camera for commercials and for programs produced locally.

While at WGN Butler met a young William Friedkin, who asked him to serve as cinematographer on a documentary he was making, “The People vs. Paul Crump,” about a prisoner on death row in Illinois; as a result of the 1962 film, the governor commuted Crump’s death sentence. Working on the film refocused Butler’s interests from television to filmed documentaries.

Butler’s first credit on a narrative feature came on Philip Kaufman’s 1967 film “Fearless Frank,” starring Jon Voight, after which he shot Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Rain People” (1969), starring James Caan and Shirley Knight, and the Jack Nicholson-directed “Drive, He Said” (1971). In 1972 he was the lenser on the Robert Culp-directed “Hickey and Boggs,” starring Bill Cosby and Culp.

While on the Universal lot working for Kaufman, he met the young Spielberg, and Butler ended up as d.p. on two of the director’s early efforts, the TV movies “Something Evil” and “Savage.” He lensed a number of other TV movies in the next couple of years, including the notable “The Execution of Private Slovik,” starring Martin Sheen, before Coppola asked him to serve as d.p. on what turned out to be the brilliant 1974 film “The Conversation,” starring Gene Hackman. After that he shot “Jaws.”

Butler was honored with the American Society of Cinematographers’ lifetime achievement award in 2003.

Butler is survived by his wife, Iris, and five daughters.

Source: variety.com.

[ghost2509]

Michael Lerner, ‘Barton Fink’ actor, dead at 81

New York Post
Fox news
msn.com
April 9, 2023

Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Lerner died Saturday. He was 81.

His nephew, Sam Lerner, who starred on “The Goldbergs,” announced his death in an Instagram post shared Sunday afternoon.

“We lost a legend last night. It’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me,” Sam wrote. “His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special.”

Michael earned an Oscar nomination in 1991 for his role as Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink.” He had nearly 200 credits to his name, including “Eight Men Out,” “Godzilla” and “X-Men: Days of Futures Past,” with three un-released projects in the works.

“Everyone that knows him knows how insane he was— in the best way. I’m so lucky I got to spend so much time with him, and we’re all lucky we can continue to watch his work for the rest of time. “

Michael’s representatives did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Sam, the son of actor Ken Lenner, ended his post, “RIP Michael, enjoy your unlimited Cuban cigars, comfy chairs, and endless movie marathon.”

Michael had three projects in development, and was in post-production on “Sallywood” with Sally Kirkland, Jennifer Tilly and Eric Robert

He was also rumored to be working on “Edoardo the Last Goodbye,” and was cast in “Fragments from Olympus: The Vision of Nikola Tesla” with Sean Young and Ed Begley Jr.

Michael was born and raised in Brooklyn, and began acting in the ’60s with the American Conservatory Theater, a nonprofit theater company out of San Francisco, California, according to IMDb.

He made his film debut in 1970 with “Alex in Wonderland” before pivoting into television roles on “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Emergency!” and “M*A*S*H*.”

Lerner starred as White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger in the ABC TV movie “The Missiles of October” with William Devane in 1974.

He had roles on “The Rockford Files,” “Kojak,” “Barnaby Jones” and “Hart to Hart.”

After receiving the Oscar nod for playing studio head Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink,” Lerner’s familiar face made it easy for moviegoers to spot him in “Newsies,” “Blank Check,” and later on as James Caan’s publishing boss in “Elf.”