RIP Singeetham Srinivasa Rao

A small sample of the man’s genius in the scenes that he visualised for his silent masterpiece.

Pushpak Vimana (1987)
   —Love at a Funeral Viewing
   —The Beggar — scenes compilation

RIP Eva Marie Saint

North By Northwest (1959)
   —‘A nice face’
   —‘A big girl’

On CBS Sunday Morning in 2014 (includes archival footage of her memorable Oscar acceptance)

RIP Tim Curry

From his very quotable memoir:

By all accounts (mathematically confirmed), I was conceived in South Africa, which bears no relevance to my life other than to add to the tally of countries my parents referred to as “home.”

Wickedness, it seems, comes naturally to me. Or, at least, others evidently see it as a trait I’m capable of accessing and reflecting in front of an audience.

I suppose it’s a compliment, albeit a slightly alarming one, when a big-time director is considering “Who should play the devil?” and your name instantly springs to mind as being a natural for the role.

I knew I would be climbing volcanos while filming [Congo] yet was still resolutely smoking two packs of Marlboros a day. Which, you may be surprised to learn, doesn’t vibe terrifically well with climbing volcanos.

People have often contacted me for roles when they’re trying to figure out “Who the hell can play this?” or, more likely, “Who would want to?”

I’ve been turned away from auditions for being too terrifying. I never know how much of that is people making associations with other characters I’ve played, or if I just naturally have a more frightening demeanour than intended. I find either potential rather amusing, and quite a good indication that said role was never meant to be.

 

With David Suchet in Appointment With Death (Poirot S11E04)

RIP Mark Rydell

It’s hard to think of a screen villain quite like Marty Augustine.

The Long Goodbye (1973)
   —‘Now, that's someone I love’
   —‘Everybody take off your clothes’

RIP Brenda Fricker

The pigeon lady has flown on to the Great Beyond.

So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
  - The Paper
  - ‘A sexy wee bastard’

RIP Sam Neill

The Hunt for Red October (1990)
  - Living in America

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
  - ‘Word of advice’
  - ‘Nothing surprises me’

RIP Michael Byrne

The Sum of All Fears (2002)
  - Keeping the Back Channels Open

RIP Chuck Norris

The Expendables 2 (2012)
  - ‘Bitten by a cobra’

‘Chuck Norris Approved’- 2007 ad for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign

‘We will take it from here’- 2021 ad for Aker ASA

RIP Robert Duvall

Of his most well known role as Tom Hagen in The Godfather and its sequel, critic and historian David Thomson posed this thought:

Was ever a role better designed for its actor than that of Tom Hagen in both parts of The Godfather?

Of his performance as an armed robber in the action thriller, The Outfit (1973), Quentin Tarantino quotes critic Philip Lanier as saying this:

His [Duvall’s] quiet determination brings across a character who appears to be a desperate man by choice. It’s a mysterious kind of masculinity that only he seems to possess.

And while his brief appearance in Apocalypse Now is his most quoted performance, I submit that his banter with Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher (2012) is equally worth remembering.

RIP Isiah Whitlock Jr.

Fan edit of the best of Senator Clay Davis in The Wire

RIP Rob Reiner

This is Spinal Tap (1984):
  - ‘These go to 11’
  - Metal detector scene

When Harry Met Sally (1989):
  - ‘I’ll have what she’s having’

A Few Good Men (1992):
  - ‘You can’t handle the truth!’

RIP Udo Kier

Excerpts from Glen Kenny’s tribute on Decider:

One reckons that very few actors nowadays would even consent to pronounce a line of dialogue like “To know death, Otto, you have to fuck life…in the gall bladder!” And even those who would deign to say those words could never match the enthusiastic delivery achieved by the German born actor Udo Kier in the 1973 Andy Warhol-produced, horror comedy masterpiece Flesh for Frankenstein, co-directed by Paul Morrissey and Antonio Margheriti.

Always in a supporting role, always somehow sinister. But he never phoned in the weirdness. While his presence alone was enough to assure a certain atmosphere, Kier was invariably thoughtful.

Link to ‘UdoFest’ clip compilation

RIP Tchéky Karyo

Fan edit from Episode 1 of Boat Story (2023) (Note: features bloody violence and gore)

RIP Diane Keaton

From Peter Bradshaw’s tribute in The Guardian:

The millpond calm of her face, its beauty, its gentleness, its openness and unworldliness became even more heart stopping when she laughed or cried – and generations of moviegoers felt their own crush on Diane Keaton escalate into something more. She was more than America’s sweetheart: Keaton was the sophisticated, sweet-natured, unaffectedly sensual woman with whom America was unrequitedly in love. Diane Keaton was out of America’s league.

The high-water mark of Diane Keaton’s late period of gentler romance was in Meyers’s Something’s Gotta Give in 2003, when she finds herself being courted by two men: Jack Nicholson, the ageing roué notorious for dating younger women and humbled by a non-fatal heart attack, and by Keanu Reeves, the impossibly dishy doctor whom Keaton meets because of Nicholson’s heart scare.

For a female star to be adored by these two amazing movie galacticos is a difficult look to pull off and really Keaton was the only candidate: even in middle age she has that innocence and unaffected charm – and if the focus in her performance is fuzzy, it only added to her appeal. The thought of Hollywood without Diane Keaton is unbearably sad.

And here’s her, freaking out, at the doctor’s, in Baby Boom (1987).

RIP Robert Redford

There’ll be those who remember him for offbeat movies like ‘The Candidate’ or ‘Downhill Racer.’ There will be those who’ll remember him as a great romantic leading man in movies like ‘The Way We Were.’ There will be those who will consider him a great force in the emergence of independent filmmaking. There will be those that will remember ‘Ordinary People’ as an impressive directorial debut. The one thing he has always been is difficult to anticipate. I think he enjoys, in a perverse way, not doing what you expect him to do.

That was the late Sydney Pollack speculating about Redford’s legacy with Variety magazine in 2002.

And here’s a cinematic moment that was unexpected—from Havana (1990), a little-remembered movie, and the last of Redford’s seven collaborations with Pollack as the director.  To quote a commenter on Rotten Tomatoes, “Robert Redford looks a bit weathered in this one, but less weathered when he takes on 2 American foxes half his age in a menage a trois”.

RIP Graham Greene

To quote from one tribute:

He used his body and voice to inhabit the characters and roles he was playing, almost disappearing within them to create someone (or something) wholly original and unseen before. Yet that classic Greene presence remained, with long hair cascading past his shoulders, and a grin so infatuating that it was hard to look away from.

Here’s some of what the man himself had to say about his early impressions of being an actor (after having worked as an audio technician):

I changed into the costume, and they put me in the shade in a nice chair. They brought me food and water. Yeah, not bad. Then somebody came and got me and walked me over to an X on the ground, and I stood there and said what they told me to say. Then they took me back to the chair in the shade and gave me more food, more water. And I thought, geez, I'm living the life of a dog. This is great. I don't have to carry anybody's amplifiers anymore. I don't have to do lights. I don't have to drive halfway across the country for nothing.

With Mel Gibson in Maverick (1994)

RIP Terence Stamp

From Christopher McQuarrie’s foreword to Rare Stamps:

Terence has a deceptive face. And while this can be said about a great many actors, the deception often masks a disappointment—a revelation that an icon is merely human or, in certain cases, even less. Terence, however, has a face that hides his true nature. It is a lion’s face—forged to communicate cool indifference. In truth, Terence is indifferent to being cool. At our first meeting, he arrived wearing shorts, a casual cotton shirt and pink rubber crocs. He was carrying several bags, having stopped to do some essential shopping on the way. My partners and I were prepared to meet Billy Budd, the Collector, the Limey, Zod—yet here we were, opposite someone who appeared to have almost forgotten the appointment. Within five minutes it became clear, however, that the aforementioned roles were mere facets of the man. He controlled the meeting from the outset—evading nothing while asking more questions than he answered. He was not auditioning for anything. We were.

A sample of the man’s own writing (and lifelong reflections):

[J]ust before I got to see the film of Priscilla for the very first time – a midnight screening at the Cannes Film Festival – I received a telephone call from the Director of Photography. He was mumbling and seemed to be apologising to me for his lighting job on my character, Bernadette, during the film.

‘You didn’t do well by me – why?’

‘It was Steph’, he explained. ‘I told him “he’s gotta face for camera. Will only need a little front light”. “No”, he said, “I don’t want him looking good.” I’m really sorry, Terence.’

So there I was, dressed to the nines for my first midnight premiere at Cannes. The lights dimmed. The curtain went up; the film began; I was about to view my creation, Bernadette, my androgynous inspiration, a woman trapped inside the body of a man.

I took a luxurious breath in anticipation of the filmic results of my emotional rollercoaster, inspired by the wonderful females who had enriched my life: Christie, Shrimpton, Mangano, Princess Diana – any and all of whom I would be happy to be in a female incarnation, but no, up there on the giant silver screen looking back at me was an old tomcat. By royal appointment of Stephan Elliott.

Vanity, thy name is Terence.

From The Limey (1999):
  - ‘Tell him I'm coming!’
  - ‘Bide your time’

RIP Alan Bergman

I rate the original version of The Windmills of Your Mind as one of the most perfect film songs in terms of the way the lyrics, the music, and the vocals match the vision behind the song and the way it’s shot. 

Keys that jingle in your pocket
Words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly
Was it something that you said

When you knew that it was over
You were you suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning
To the color of her hair

RIP Michael Madsen

To quote from one tribute, “always embodying various degrees of laconic.”

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
  - ‘That woman deserves her revenge’

RIP Harris Yulin

Prolific bio writer Gary Brumburgh wrote this about him in his IMDb bio:

Another one of those frustratingly nameless but omnipresent and talented faces of stage, film and TV, chameleon-like player Harris Yulin avoided the severe stereotyping lost to many a prolific actor. Benign, balding and often bearded, Yulin off camera was a stark contrast to the tough, unsympathetic men he presented on camera.

He [was] the possessor of an intriguingly solemn, autocratic-looking mug, and his glowering intensity usually invites suspicion, scorn or skepticism... or all three.

He could always be counted on to play a maniacal genius or the embodiment of white-collar corruption in a career piled with genuinely unsympathetic characters.

Training Day (2001)
  - Peanut Butter