Sad Goodbyes

Sad sad news, and I don't have time for a full write-up before I leave for work. However, genre fave Bill Paxton, legendary as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, has passed away at the much too young age of 61 following complications from surgery. This is a real loss.

The last of the Great Five is gone. Mr. Lee was a man rescued from obscurity by Hammer. Although the movie business of the time was not designed to make a fellow of Mr. Lee's literal statue a leading man, the roaring return of gothic horror precipitated by Hammer Studios quickly transformed Mr. Lee…

Veteran helmer Joseph Sargent passed on December 22, 2014. Mr. Sargent had a long, distinguished career, starting (as did so many directors of his generation) as a prolific television director before moving on to movies. During his nearly 50 year career, Mr. Sargent directed a handful of classics, and more happily, for our purposes,…

Mr. Garner served in the United States Army during the Korean War. He was wounded twice, once in a friendly fired incident, and received two Purple Hearts. He was 86 at the time of his passing.

Joan Fontaine is barely remembered except by old film buffs these days, but she was in her time a towering star. For one brief moment, she was perhaps the biggest star in Hollywood. Ms. Fontaine started her film career in the mid-1930s. She rose through the ranks quickly, and soon was costarring in classics…

Irish born actor Peter O'Toole gained immortality via one of the truly iconic film roles in cinema history, the titular Lawrence of Arabia in director David Lean's production. It was one of his earliest roles, and unsurprisingly he never really equaled its success again. He worked until the time of his death, though. He…

In the Hall of Jabootu Greats, no one, save perhaps Richard Burton, looms as large as writer / director / producer / actor Tom Laughlin. Indeed, Mr. Laughlin's small handful of films, especially his four Billy Jack pictures, were in a real sense the meat and potatoes of this site. Reviews of films like…

In the 1950s, Eleanor Parker was a three time Oscar nominee for Best Actress (1950, 1951 & 1955) and a fairly major star. Her career never scaled the heights you'd assumed from those facts. She later was nominated, again for Best Actress, for an Emmy and a Golden Globe award, and didn't win either…

Syrian-born actor Michael Ansara passed away over the weekend. A gentleman, Ansara like many such made his bread and butter playing American Indians, including Cochise in the TV western series Broken Arrow. However, Mr. Ansara will be far dearer in these corners for the wide range of genre roles he assayed. His greatest fame…

Aside from Ray Bradbury--who needless to say was in a class by himself--few authors are as associated in the broad public mind with golden age fantasy and science fiction as Richard Matheson. While there are many authors famous to sci-fi nerds, Matheson wrote novels like I Am Legend, Somewhere in Time and The Incredible…