Wayne Kramer, guitarist and co-founder of MC5, died on February 2; he was 75 years old. Now four of the original five band members from the seminal 1969 album Kick Out the Jams are dead: bassist Michael Davis died in 2012; guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith in 1994; lead singer Rob Tyner in 1991. Only drummer Dennis Thompson is still cooking the plums.
Without doubt, Ian Lavender will probably always be known as Private Frank Pike in the iconic BBC TV series, ‘Dad’s Army’ (1968-1977), that is still as popular today as it was when first broadcast.
He was the last of the original cast.
Goodbye to a true comedy legend. Thank you for the laughs…
Oscar winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. has passed away at the age of 87.
Gossett is probably most remembered for his role as Sgt. Emil Foley in the 1982 hit An Officer and a Gentleman which earned him the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar.
Gossett appeared in a total of 200 movies and TV shows over the course of his career which includes the TV mini-series Roots (1977), and films such as A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Skin Game (1971), The Deep (1977) and the science fiction hit Enemy Mine (1985).
and ‘Enemy Mine’ (1985)…
In this film, you don’t get to see Louis, but his personality absolutely shines through the alien make-up… Here, pictured with Dennis Quaid.
RIP to a fine character actor. My one college professor also wrote plays and Louis Gossett Jr. starred in an Off-Broadway production of one of them, a very cool and fascinating story I will always remember.
Just saw on my WordPress feed that Roger Corman, the man behind the Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe films and the maverick Indie production company New World Pictures, has passed away at the very ripe old age of 98.
I grew up with Corman’s Poe films back in the 90’s when AMC and TCM aired them around Halloween, and they were some of my first experiences with auteur style filmmaking.
RIP Mr. Corman, you’ll be greatly missed, but never forgotten
A fond farewell to two undisputed legends - one was King of the ‘B’ pics; and the other a successful film producer and SW favourite.
The connection between both men was, of course, ‘Fall of the House of Usher’ (1960).
Very sad to hear of Mark Damon’s passing. I know he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea with his sparkling teeth and matinee idol looks but he appeared in some damn fine spags among the many he made. He also showed himself to be a genuinely versatile actor and one I will always remember fondly. R.I.P Johnny Yuma
Mark Damon too? Man, all these cool guys are dropping one by one. I gained a ton of respect for Damon when watching his interview on the Arrow Blu Ray of Black Sabbath when he said his main attraction to staying in Italy to make films was the less strict and more relaxed atmosphere on set, and how everybody got along and helped each other. That’s truly how filmmaking should be, a serious job, but enjoyable, not intense.
While I agree his teen idol face didn’t always translate to some of the roles he played, he did bring tons of charisma and charm to his roles, and he’s excellent in films like Requiescant, Death at Owell Rock, Dead Men Don’t Count, and of course Johnny Yuma.
A great actor who obviously carefully picked his roles in SW and thus played in many interesting above average SWs. It is quite ironical he or his agent did not take the roles in Django and A Fistfull of Dollars.
Anyway I always love to watch the movies he starred in even non SWs. I only wished SWDB had made an interview with him about his SW career.
