Rolling Obituary Thread: 2021

wasn't someone just talking about how all the principals of the sound of music were still alive? or was that Mary Poppins?

had the pleasure of interviewing him years ago and he told me this fun story about the time he and jason robards got a police horse drunk in nyc https://t.co/jI4jZJT884 pic.twitter.com/tnMp7zzJDR

— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) February 5, 2021

Can't say I'm familiar with most of his movies, but it's interesting that scanning the list now he seemed to get better roles the older he got.

sorry for linking to my own tweet but the tidbits about how miserable he was making the sound of music always crack me up

RIP Christopher Plummer https://t.co/1B0YYHII9B

— n1ck amm3rman (@somelanguage) February 5, 2021

also i watched the silent partner for the first time this year and he's very fun in that as a total psychopath

Starcrash forever. "IMPERIAL BATTLESHIP!...Halt the flow of TIME!" If he hadn't've done that he should have been in Flash Gordon by default.

or was that Mary Poppins?

But Glynis Johns and Dick van Dyke are still alive at 97 and 95, and Julie Andrews at 85, so pretty good show

Silent Partner is def one of my go-to unknown gems I recommend to ppl. Plummer really rides the film's transition from light comedy bank caper to psycho slasher.

somehow it never occurred to me that amanda plummer was his daughter

This is weird because I honestly never knew that was Plummer in The Sound Of Music! I only knew his older face.

Stefan Cush from The Men They Couldn't Hang.

(no links as yet but the band have announced on Facebook)

Knives Out was a bonafide hit... good to know he was making winners right up to the end.

Loved him in Sound of Music, gah so very much
And i just recently saw Silent Partner (1978) which is a fucking TRIP of a movie, he is great & menacing in it

https://www.theafricareport.com/62955/sibongile-khumalo-voice-of-the-new-south-africa-dies-at-63/

RIP Sibongile Khumalo, South African Zulu township jazz & choral singer

leon spinks

https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/30848782/leon-spinks-ex-heavyweight-champ-upset-muhammad-ali-dies-67

And i just recently saw Silent Partner (1978) which is a fucking TRIP of a movie, he is great & menacing in it

I spend a not insignificant % of my online life telling people to check out that movie

A friend of mine was scarred by seeing The Silent Partner when it came out... at the age of eight. There's a decapitation scene whose memory still disturbs him.

Bruce N. Blackburn, graphic designer who designed the American Bicentennial logo as well as the NASA logo in use 1975-1992 (now revived as a secondary NASA logo).

Worm logo!

Although there doesn't appear to be any other corroborating evidence online at the moment, Edward James Olmos just posted this tribute on twitter that seems to heavily imply that Hector Elizondo has died at age 84, which is much older than I would have guessed.

One true giant of humanity who gave to everyone he met a sense of self-esteem and self respect Hector Elizondo a true gift to the stage screen and life My love to Elaine and Eddie and the family my heart cries But I celebrate one of the great human beings I’ve met through life 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/SsBDqLDcco

— Edward James Olmos (@edwardjolmos) February 7, 2021

Always liked him. An actor who even managed to make some of the worst Garry Marshall comedies more bearable (and I'd call his work in Pretty Woman legit great). RIP.

Wow, guess I've got (another) excuse to pull my Taking of Pelham One Two Three Blu-Ray off the shelf.

https://wtop.com/government/2021/02/reagans-longtime-secretary-of-state-george-p-shultz-dies/

George Shultz, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State, 100

By far the sanest member of Reagan's Cabinet.

too bad about theranos

Cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno

The Leopard is the first one of his that comes to my mind. RIP

https://popculture.com/celebrity/news/last-man-standing-hector-elizondo-not-dead-death-rumors-hoax/

I just got off the phone with a rep for Hector Elizondo who confirms he is still very much alive and well. She just got off the phone with him. https://t.co/Dk9VM353Pi

— Rosy Cordero (@SocialRosy) February 7, 2021

Rotunno’s work with Fellini is all-time. Beautiful images. RIP

White Nights was apparently the first Visconti film he worked on, very beautiful black and white cinematography.

How old was he when he shot The Leopard? Good lord. He JUST died???

He was around 40 then, 97 when he died.

We lost Hector Elizondo

Who did?

^^Tanya Roberts

I can bring this all home in one post...Christopher Plummer and The Silent Partner in the obituary thread sent me to a different thread to post about Celine Lomez. When I read up on her a bit, I came across this: "One of the finalists in casting for the television series Charlie's Angels, but lost the role to Tanya Roberts because network decided Lomez was too sexy for prime time."

Which is kind of something thinking about Tanya Roberts.

A real diversity of films/genres that were a natural fit for Elizondo’s warmth and irascibility.

read the thread Don

Underground comix creator S. Clay Wilson.

Jean-Claude Carrière (1931 — 2021) pic.twitter.com/Xtk6M51iJJ

— MUBI (@mubi) February 8, 2021

Oh, man, RIP.

Posting another link about "Midnight Train to Georgia" songwriter Jim Weatherly, already mentioned upthread. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/05/964473172/jim-weatherly-who-wrote-midnight-train-to-georgia-dies-at-77

(xp) RIP. Watched a whole bunch of Bunuel films over the festive period and very much enjoyed the accompanying interviews with him.

While researching the Sally Can't Dance poll, I discovered that Lou Reed's keyboard player from 1974 - 1980, Michael Fonfara, died here in Toronto last month of cancer at 74.

Oh, RIP

Moufida Tlatli, Tunisian filmmaker and editor http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/5/402542/Arts--Culture/Renowned-Tunisian-filmmaker-Moufida-ElTalatli-pass.aspx

Obit for S. Clay Wilson: http://www.tcj.com/s-clay-wilson-the-most-influential-artist-of-his-generation/

And the announcement from his long-time partner, who married him in 2010 in order to be able to be his full-time carer:

I posted this on Facebook yesterday...devastated by this loss. Perhaps you’d like to read these 4 screenshots of this journey.....I still need to write on the website....💔 pic.twitter.com/jWGTnoMGs9

— Lorraine Chamberlain (@Chamberpaint) February 8, 2021