Alexis Arquette, the transgender character actress and sibling of actors David, Rosanna, Richmond and Patricia Arquette, died early on Sunday morning in Los Angeles. She was 47 and surrounded by family who serenaded her with David Bowie’s Starman, her siblings said in a statement.
Best known to me in her small but memorable pre-transition role as “Fourth Man” in the Quentin Tarantino classic Pulp Fiction (1994), she also appeared in Bride of Chucky (Yu, 1998) among many other pictures.
Italian director, assistant director, writer and actor Tonino Valerii died in Abruzzo, Italy on October 13th. He was 82. Born Antonio Valerii on May 20, 1934 in Montorio al Vomano, Teramo, Italy, he started his film career as an assistant director on Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars” (1965), before moving on to direct by himself. Among his best-known films are “Day of Anger” (1968) “The Price of Power” (1969), “A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die” (1972) and “My Name Is Nobody” (1973).
That is sad news. Valerii made some great films of which Day of Anger remains a firm favourite of mine. Might watch Price of Power in his honour this weekend though. Another good one from the man.
R.I.P.
82 years is an respectable age so as long as it was a smooth passing… My Name is Nobody is my favourite of his and I don’t think I’ve seen that in HD yet, so might take it for a spin.
2016 has not been a good year so far. It’s horrible to see that not only two of the giants in this genre have passed, but a vast number of other wonderful artists have also passed.
Very sad – Roberto Curti in the preface to his Valerii monograph: “Unfortunately Tonino’s health got worse and worse in the last couple of years. I sincerely hope that when this book is out he is still with us and appreciates the result. I hope his pale blue eyes shine when he sees it […]” (p. 6).
Won’t pretend to be a fan in a wider sense but hearing of Mr. Cohen’s passing made me think immediately of Waiting For the Miracle as is always the case when I think of Leonard Cohen, which in turn has made me want to watch Natural Born Killers (Stone, 1994) as is always the case when I think of Waiting For the Miracle.