Sunday,
December 31,
Last Goodbye to Italian Movie Greats who Died in 2006
The
ANNOTICO Report
Anthony
Franciosa jumped between movies and TV, getting an Oscar
nomination for "A Hatful of Rain."
Italian
director Gillo Pontecorvo
made "The Battle of Algiers," still timely for its dissection of how
not to battle terrorist insurgencies.
Joseph
Stefano
wrote the screenplay for "Psycho" and created the TV series "The
Outer Limits."
Movies: A last goodbye to the movie greats who died in
2006
Sean
P. Means
Salt
December 30, 2006
Robert Altman didn't let on during his acceptance speech for a lifetime-achievement Oscar that he had cancer, though the whispers of death were all over his final film, "A Prairie Home Companion."
Altman was just one of the figures from the movies we lost in 2006.
We said goodbye to the sultry and strong-willed Shelley Winters and the
perky and perfect June Allyson. Glenn Ford was the stalwart good guy in dozens
of movies, from Westerns to "The Courtship of Eddie's Father." Red
Buttons was first a comedian, but won an Oscar for a serious role in
"Sayonara." Jack Palance always played the
heavy, and the one time he didn't got him an Oscar for
"City Slickers." Maureen Stapleton provided gravitas to Warren
Beatty's "Reds," getting an Oscar for her troubles.
Peter Boyle was a dramatic actor ("The Candidate," "Joe")
who got laughs as the hulking but hapless monster in "Young
Frankenstein." Dennis Weaver was known as a cowboy, but he freaked out
Janet Leigh as a freaky motel manager in "Touch of Evil." Chris Penn
died the night before one of his last movies, "The Darwin Awards,"
premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Don Knotts always made us laugh, from "The Ghost
and Mr. Chicken" to "The Incredible Mr. Limpet." Darren McGavin will live forever every December as the grumpy dad
in "A Christmas Story." Jack Warden served on the jury in
"Twelve Angry Men" and coached Beatty in "Heaven Can Wait."
Bruno Kirby started in "The Godfather Part II," but made his mark as
Jane Wyatt was beautiful in "Lost Horizon," then became TV's most
famous mom on "Father Knows Best" (and played Spock's mom on
"Star Trek"). Arthur Hill played scientists ("The Andromeda
Strain"), doctors ("A Bridge Too Far") and villains ("Futureworld"). Anthony Franciosa
jumped between movies and TV, getting an Oscar nomination for "A Hatful of
Rain." Japanese-born Mako shattered stereotypes,
appearing in everything from "The Sand Pebbles" to "Memoirs of a
Geisha."
Philippe Noiret
worked decades in French cinema, but became famous worldwide as the
projectionist in "Cinema Paradiso" and the
poet Pablo Neruda in "Il Postino."
Some were known for particular film moments. Moira Shearer danced her heart out
in "The Red Shoes." Phil Brown survived the blacklists to play Luke
Skywalker's Uncle Owen in "Star Wars." Richard Bright was Michael Corleone's bodyguard Al Neri in
the three "Godfather" films. Jack Wild played the Artful Dodger in
"Oliver!" Bodybuilder Mickey Hargitay did
some movies, but was better known for marrying Jayne Mansfield. Andreas Katsulas played the one-armed man who bedeviled Harrison
Ford in "The Fugitive."
Director Vincent Sherman worked with Ronald Reagan
("The Hasty Heart"), Errol Flynn ("The Adventures of Don
Juan"), Bette Davis ("Mr. Skeffington")
and Ida Lupino ("The Hard Way"). Richard
Fleischer went for fantasy and science fiction, from "Fantastic
Voyage" and "20,000 Leagues Under the
Sea" to "Soylent Green" and "Red
Sonja." Photographer Gordon Parks became
Shohei Imamura brought passion to
Japanese films, winning the Palme d'Or at
Betty Comden co-wrote the scripts
and songs for "On the Town" and "Singin'
in the Rain." Joseph Stefano wrote the screenplay for "Psycho"
and created the TV series "The Outer Limits." Cinematographer Sven Nykvist shot many of Ingmar Bergman's classics, as well as
"Sleepless in Seattle" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
Production designer Henry Bumstead won Oscars for
"To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Sting" and worked on Clint
Eastwood's films from "Unforgiven" to the
upcoming "Letters From Iwo Jima." Akira Ifukube composed the music for the original
"Godzilla" and created the monster's trademark roar. Dana Reeve
didn't live to see the final project she and husband Christopher produced, the
animated "Everyone's Hero."
Nam June Paik pioneered video installation art. Sid Davis
went from being John Wayne's stand-in to producing educational films about the
dangers of alcohol and taking rides from strangers. Arthur Widmer
invented the earliest version of "blue-screen" technology, which took
special effects into a whole new age.
---
* SEAN P. MEANS writes a daily blog,
"The Movie Cricket," at blogs.sltrib.com/movies. Send questions or
comments to Sean P. Means, movie critic, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West,
Suite 700, Salt Lake City, UT 84101, or e-mail at movies@sltrib.com.
http://www.sltrib.com/arts/ci_4925720
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