KOCH DIES ON DAY KOCH OPENS

In an eerie coincidence, Koch, a documentary about former New York Mayor Ed Koch, opened in two New York theaters on Friday just hours after his death at the age of 88. The film grossed $40,000 over the weekend (or $20,000 per theater), a solid figure for a documentary. Sadly, Koch did not review it […]

ACTOR/ACTIVIST RUSSELL MEANS DEAD AT 72

Russell Means, who first rose to prominence as a leader of the 1973 Wounded Knee uprising of Native American activists and who later was cast in a major role in the movie The Last of the Mohicans, has died of cancer at his ranch in Porcupine, South Dakota at age 72. Means became a popular […]

PUBLICIST TO THE STARS LOIS SMITH DEAD AT 85

Publicist Lois Smith, whose clients included Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford, and Martin Scorsese, died in Hebron, Maine Sunday after sustaining a head injury in an accidental fall. She was 85. In an obituary, TheWrap.com, quoted from an interview that Smith gave to the Boston University campus newspaper, BU Today, in 2010: “I’m so glad I’m […]

RAMBALDI, CREATOR OF ALIEN AND ET CREATURES, DIES

Special-effects wizard Carlo Rambaldi, who created the creatures for Ridley Scott’s 1979 horror flick Alien and Steven Spielberg’s 1982 family film ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, has died at age 86. His work on those films brought him Oscars for visual effects. He also shared a special achievement Oscar in 1976 for King Kong. But his work […]

FILM CRITIC JUDITH CRIST DEAD AT 90

Veteran film critic Judith Crist, who reviewed films for NBC’s Today show from 1963 to 1973 as its first film critic and was also the critic for the now-defunct New York Herald Tribune and later for New York magazine, has died at age 90. For a time she was regarded as one of the most […]

COMPOSER MARVIN HAMLISCH DEAD AT 68

Composer Marvin Hamlisch, who had a hand — a deft one — in every form of show business and won top awards in all of them, has died in Los Angeles at age 68. A family spokesman declined to provide details, saying only that he had died after a brief illness. In 1974 Hamlisch took […]

TONY MARTIN — STAR OF RECORDS, RADIO, TV & MOVIES — DEAD AT 98

Tony Martin, the handsome singer/actor who was frequently cast as the leading man during the golden age of the Hollywood musical, whose recordings are among the classics of the ’40s and ’50s, and who became one of the most familiar celebrity faces on television in the 1950s and ’60s, has died in Los Angeles at […]

PROLIFIC TV DIRECTOR WILLIAM ASHER DEAD AT 90

William Asher, who has 52 credits as a director on his IMDb profile, 15 credits as a producer and 10 as a writer, has died in Palm Desert, CA of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. His credits list may be a bit misleading inasmuch as in several instances they include entire series or numerous episodes. For […]

PRODUCER OF JAWS, COCOON, DRIVING MISS DAISY, PLANET OF APES, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, DIES

Prolific producer Richard D. Zanuck, who won an Oscar for his 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy, and whose other films were some of the most admired releases of the past 50 years, has died of a heart attack in Los Angeles at the age of 77. He was the son of Daryl F. Zanuck, the […]

ERNEST BORGNINE OF MARTY AND MCHALE’S NAVY FAME DEAD AT 95

Ernest Borgnine, best known for his Oscar-winning performance in the title role of 1955’s Marty and — again in the title role — for the 1960s’ TV series McHale’s Navy, has died of renal failure in Los Angeles at age 95. Active to the end, he received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement award last […]

Next Page »