RIP: Reel Important People -- December 17, 2007
Posted Dec 17th 2007 6:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Obits, Michael Moore, Cinematical Indie
St. Claire Bourne (1943-2007) - Filmmaker who directed the documentary John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk and was the unit manager for When We Were Kings. He also appears as himself in the doc How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It), which is about Melvin Van Peebles. His most familiar work, though, is likely Making 'Do the Right Thing', which can be found on Criterion's DVD release of the Spike Lee film. He died after an operation to remove a brain tumor December 15, in New York. (Daily News via The Reeler) - John Clark (? - 2007) - Art director for Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Secret Ceremony, The Railway Children, Performance and Sidney Lumet's The Offence. He died December 12 in London. (IMDb)
- Philippe Clay (1927-2007) - French singer and actor who appears in Bell, Book and Candle, Jean Delannoy's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the Anthony Quinn/Gina Lollobrigida one), Jean Renoir's French Cancan and Roger Planchon's Lautrec, in which he portrayed the painter Auguste Renoir. He died of cardiac arrest December 13, in Paris. (Find a Grave)
- Freddie Fields (1923-2007) - "Superagent" and talent manager who co-founded Creative Management Associates, the precursor to International Creative Management (ICM). He also produced Glory, American Gigolo, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Victory, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Millennium and Crimes of the Heart. He died of lung cancer December 11, in Beverly Hills. (Variety)
- Jillian Kesner (1950-2007) - Actress and karate expert who starred in Beverly Hills Vamp, Raw Force (aka Kung Fu Cannibals), Firecracker (aka Naked Fist) and Student Body, which is familiar to fans of Errol Morris' documentary The Thin Blue Line, in which it is featured. She later became a production coordinator and associate producer. She died of a staph infection December 5. (Voy.com)
- Tom Miller (1922-2007) - Unit publicist for Shaft, Alex in Wonderland, The Cotton Club, The Last Dragon, Blow Out, The Happy Hooker, Easy Money and Paul Newman's Harry & Son and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. He died of an embolism following surgery December 6, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Tuscaloosa News)
- Alain Payet (1947-2007) - French writer-director who was second assistant director on Philippe Labro's L' Héritier (The Exterminator), which starred Jean-Paul Belmondo. He then directed '70s Nazi exploitation movies and "chic" pornographic films. He died of cancer December 13, in Paris. (Allocine.fr)
- Ted Steinberg (1943-2007) - Producer and co-writer of the documentary Celsius 41.11: The Temperature at Which the Brain ... Begins to Die, which was a response to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. He died of pancreatic cancer December 1, in Los Angeles. (Variety)
- Tony Tenser (1920-2007) - Producer of Polanski's Cul-de-sac and Repulsion, Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General and The Sorcerers, the 1971 Black Beauty and a number of sexploitation and horror films. He's credited as coining the term "sex kitten" to describe Brigitte Bardot. He died December 5. (Times Online)
- Ike Turner (1931-2007) - Musician, songwriter and band leader who appears in appears and performs in the Maysles documentary Gimme Shelter and Milos Forman's Taking Off (as part of The Ike and Tina Turner Revue). He was portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do with It. He died of emphysema December 12, in San Marcos, California. (NY Times)
- Schuster Vance (c.1960 - 2007) - Actor who played a Secret Service agent in xXx: State of the Union and Wedding Crashers. He also appears in 16 Blocks, Annapolis and Paul Schrader's latest, The Walker and he was a precision driver for Live Free or Die Hard and a stand-in for The Good Shepherd. He died of cancer December 12, in Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun)
- Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman (1935-2007) - Native American activist-singer-songwriter and actor (pictured) who played "Chief Ten Bears" in Dances With Wolves and the Shaman in Oliver Stone's The Doors and appears in Hidalgo, Renegades, Richard Attenborough's Grey Owl and Johnny Depp's The Brave. He also appears as himself in the documentary Last Party 2000 (aka The Party's Over) and narrated the upcoming documentary Spirit Riders. He died December 13 in Los Angeles. (Native Times)
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1. And don't forget Mr. Westerman also had a recurring role in The X-Files. He will be missed.
Posted at 7:48PM on Dec 17th 2007 by Cath