Tag: deaths

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Passing away: Angel‘s Andy Hallett, film composer Maurice Jarre

We are saddened to report the passing of Maurice Jarre and Andy Hallett.

Maurice Jarre was a French film composer who won 3 Oscars for Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, and A Passage to India, and wrote the music for over 150 films, and was considered one of the pioneers of film scoring. He passed away on Sunday of cancer at the age of 84.

Andy Hallett was best known for his role of Lorne/The Host, a horned green demon owner of the karaoke bar on the TV show Angel, and also sang on the Angel soundtrack. He passed on Monday of heart failure at the age of 33.

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Natasha Richardson has passed away

Last night we got word that Natasha Richardson has succumbed to her injuries. The family released a brief statement:

Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.

Appreciations for Richardson’s work and career have come from all quarters, including Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times and director Ken Russell. EW also has a gallery of her key roles.

Our sympathies to Neeson, their sons, and their friends and family.

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Ricardo Montalban off to the next great journey

The man who brought us Khan lives no more.  Ricardo Montalban passed away yesterday morning at the age of 88.

CJ honors the passing of a great contributor to the geek world, from his roles as Star Trek’s Khan, to movies including Naked Gun and Spy Kids, and of course Fantasy Island.  There are also many CJ’ers who are fans of the series Kim Possible which he contributed to recently.

Raise a glass of Romulan ale and toast farewell with us!

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Majel Barrett, First Lady of Star Trek, beams up…

Majel Barret Roddenberry as Christine Chapel in TOSMajel Barret Roddenberry, Star Trek actor and wife of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, passed away on Thursday of leukemia at the age of 76. Known for her roles as Nurse Christine Chapel in the Original Series, Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation, and the voice of the ship’s computer (of nearly all Starfleet and Federation vessels) in all the series and films of the franchise, including the upcoming JJ Abrams reboot.

Majel Barret on Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki.

Jawa’s note: I met Majel Barrett at a Star Trek convention in 1993, and though I really didn’t know who she was or who Lwaxana Troi was (not much of a Trek fan back then), she was really sweet to me.

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In a world where one man voices all the movie trailers…

Who will voice them now? Don LaFontaine, commonly known as the “King of Voiceovers,” died Monday in Los Angeles.

Aside from being the preeminent voice in the movie trailer industry, Don also worked as the voice of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, as well as for CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and UPN, in addition to TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network. By conservative estimates, he voiced hundreds of thousands of television and radio spots, including commercials for Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Budweiser, McDonalds, Coke, and many other corporate sponsors.

Underneath the cut, a video on LaFontaine and his work. Continue reading “In a world where one man voices all the movie trailers…”

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RIP: Effects master Stan Winston

Numerous media outlets today reported the death of Stan Winston, the Oscar-winning special effects master whose work included Terminator, Jurassic Park, and Aliens. He was 62.

ILM’s Dennis Muren, who supervised Jurassic Park’s digital effects, told Variety:

“When you put (Winston’s creatures and digital effects) together, the audience was confused, and sometimes we were, too, about who had done what.

“But Stan had always said, ‘It shouldn’t be all one or all the other; it should be a combination of the two.'”

Michael Heilemann over at Binary Bonsai has a brief tribute – and a book recommendation.