R.I.P. Legends Lost but Remembered

Here’s a great little story by screenplaywriter Mark Hyanes, which describes Roger perfectly, his roles and the man himself:

"As a seven-year-old in about 1983, in the days before First Class Lounges at airports, I was with my grandad in Nice Airport and saw Roger Moore sitting at the departure gate, reading a paper. I told my granddad I’d just seen James Bond and asked if we could go over so I could get his autograph. My grandad had no idea who James Bond or Roger Moore were, so we walked over and he popped me in front of Roger Moore, with the words “my grandson says you’re famous. Can you sign this?”

As charming as you’d expect, Roger asks my name and duly signs the back of my plane ticket, a fulsome note full of best wishes. I’m ecstatic, but as we head back to our seats, I glance down at the signature. It’s hard to decipher it but it definitely doesn’t say ‘James Bond’. My grandad looks at it, half figures out it says ‘Roger Moore’ - I have absolutely no idea who that is, and my hearts sinks. I tell my grandad he’s signed it wrong, that he’s put someone else’s name - so my grandad heads back to Roger Moore, holding the ticket which he’s only just signed.

I remember staying by our seats and my grandad saying “he says you’ve signed the wrong name. He says your name is James Bond.” Roger Moore’s face crinkled up with realisation and he beckoned me over. When I was by his knee, he leant over, looked from side to side, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said to me, “I have to sign my name as ‘Roger Moore’ because otherwise…Blofeld might find out I was here.” He asked me not to tell anyone that I’d just seen James Bond, and he thanked me for keeping his secret. I went back to our seats, my nerves absolutely jangling with delight. My grandad asked me if he’d signed ‘James Bond.’ No, I said. I’d got it wrong. I was working with James Bond now.

Many, many years later, I was working as a scriptwriter on a recording that involved UNICEF, and Roger Moore was doing a piece to camera as an ambassador. He was completely lovely and while the cameramen were setting up, I told him in passing the story of when I met him in Nice Airport. He was happy to hear it, and he had a chuckle and said “Well, I don’t remember but I’m glad you got to meet James Bond.” So that was lovely.

And then he did something so brilliant. After the filming, he walked past me in the corridor, heading out to his car - but as he got level, he paused, looked both ways, raised an eyebrow and in a hushed voice said, “Of course I remember our meeting in Nice. But I didn’t say anything in there, because those cameramen - any one of them could be working for Blofeld.”

I was as delighted at 30 as I had been at 7. What a man. What a tremendous man."

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I am reading from Eric Mache on Facebook that José Greci has passed away yesterday

Adam West, the titular star of 60’s hit TV show Batman among other roles (including of course the lead in the 1965 spaghetti western The Relentless Four) has died following a short battle with leukaemia. He was 88.

My earliest childhood memory is of running around in a playschool, wearing a cape (albeit a silver, glittery cape; I guess it was the only cape the playschool had), being Adam West’s Batman, bawling the theme tune as loudly as I could as I ran about. My love of his show informed a love of the character which has never really left me, four decades later.

RIP, Batman. I’m not crying, I’ve just got Bat Shark Repellent in my eye. :disappointed:

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Great he was in a Spaghetti !

George Romero, creator of Night of the Living Dead (1968) and its sequels among other movies, has died after a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer”. He was 77.

RIP (Hopefully he’ll stay down)

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Martin Landau, star of Space 1999 and an Oscar winner for his role as Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (1994), has died following “unexpected complications” after a hospital visit. He was 89.

RIP

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Well maybe not a familiar face these days, but one of my all time favourite faces on screen, and she could sing too. A lovely lady.

RIP

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Jeanne Moreau, one of the most charismatic faces to grace the screen. And off course, she has a credit on SWDB.

On the same day, another great has left us. Sam Shepard, the last American (outlaw).

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The Welsh film and television actor Hywel Bennett has died today, aged 73. He had parts in EastEnders and Last of the Summer Wine but he’ll likely be best known in the UK for his starring, titular role in the late seventies/early eighties sitcom Shelley and its sequel The Return of Shelley which began airing a few years after Shelley ended.

Personally, I was just a shade too young to have truly appreciated Shelley; I would’ve been maybe nine or ten when it aired, and its melancholy theme tune always meant that, for me, it was time for bed which, by association, also meant I had school in the morning. Boo!

I did enjoy his work however in Twisted Nerve (Boulting, 1968), a movie I sought out because of Quentin Tarantino’s use of Bernard Herrmann’s whistling theme to that movie in Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003).

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RIP

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I did a search here and found no mention of this-- we lost Franco Giacobini at the end of 2015. He played Pepote in “Il mercenario” and Jed’s father in “La banda J & S: Cronaca criminale del Far West.”

I was watching the former flick last night and remembered…

According to some different channels it seems Ty Hardin has also left the building. RIP

His films:
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Category:Ty_Hardin

Not officially deceased yet, as far as I can tell. At 87…

I love Twisted Nerve. Bernard Hermann’s wonderful theme, Hywell Bennett, Hayley Mills, Billie Whitelaw, Barry Foster…“Georgie likes ducks”…
I watch this every couple of years and love every minute every time.

I will always associate Bennett with Hayley Mills as he made a few films with her over the years. The Family Way and Endless Night spring to mind. He was also in a very good TV serial in the late 70s called Malice Aforethought.
Sad to see him go.

Ty Hardin did pass-away last Thursday.

Bronco (Layne, in the television series) was his quintessentially ‘best’ role, but he was excellent in Merrill’s Marauders, Savage Pampas, and PT-109. Probably Merrill’s Marauders was tops.

Rest peaceful.

Sometimes, having few sources is just as good as waiting for news stories on “traditional media” :wink:

RIP Ty

R.I.P. ROBERT HARDY.

The distinguished British actor, Robert Hardy, died, in the last few days, aged 91.

To me, Mr. Hardy will always be known for playing both Sigfried Farnon, in the classic BBC 1. programme, ‘All Creatures Great and Small’;
and as Winston Churchill, in 'Winston Churchill, the Wilderness Years".

A fantastic actor, who will be missed.

R.I.P. Robert Hardy.

Article in the WaPo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/ty-hardin-rugged-actor-who-played-bronco-layne-on-tv-westerns-dies-at-87/2017/08/10/31be4276-7dd7-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html

Great obit. He probably was in the mold of Texans who could leave America to go film in Spain and Italy, but it’s hard to leave Texas.

Jerry Lewis, one of my favorite comedians passed away. R.I.P. funny man.:cry:

Damn, that’s sad news.