I haven't really done an obituary post recently, mostly because I haven't done much in the way of briefs posts and also because nobody really really famous who deserved their own standalone obituary post died; just the William Friedkin and Alan Arkin memorial tributes. But over the second half of November there are quite a few people who have at least something worth mentioning about their contributions to world cinema, so I figure I should give each of them a blurb now:
It was a week ago that director Elliot Silverstein died at the age of 96. He did a lot of televsion work, but also directed a few memorable movies. The first of these was Cat Ballou, which won Lee Marvin his Oscar. After all, who knew Lee Marvin could do comedy, even if the film is a mess at times. He also directed Anthony Quinn in The Happening, which is probably better remembered for the title song that was a #1 hit for Diana Ross and the Supremes.
Actress Frances Sternhagen died on Monday aged 93. For those in the know, she'd probably be better remembered for her work on Broadway, winning a pair of Tony awards. Her film work included Starting Over which I reviewed here not all that long ago, as well as the sheriff's deputy in Misery.
I wouldn't have recognized the name of writer John Nichols, although you'll recognize a couple of the books from the movies they were turned into: The Sterile Cuckoo back in the 1960s and then The Milagro Beanfield War in the 1980s. Nichols was 83 when he died on Monday.
And, I certainly wouldn't have recognized the name Vassilis Vassilikos, who died on Thursday at the age of 89. But this writer-turned-diplomat is responsible for a book that's one of the more memorable movies from world cinema, that being Z, starring Yves Montand and directed by Costa-Gavras, a veiled account of events in his native Greece that led to the military coup of 1967. Vassilikos was opposed to the junta and was forced into exile after the coup.
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