RIP: Reel Important People -- June 11, 2007
Filed under: Obits
Abdel Hay Adib (c.1920-2007) - Egyptian screenwriter who penned Youssef Chahine's The Iron Gate. He died June 10 in Switzerland. (International Herald Tribune) - Laurie Bartram (1958-2007) - Actress who appears in Friday the 13th and The House of Seven Corpses. She died of cancer May 25, in Lynchburg, Virginia. (The News & Advance)
- Jean-Claude Brialy (1933-2007) - Actor and filmmaker (pictured) who became one of the major stars of the French New Wave. In addition to starring in Chabrol's Les Cousins and Les Beau Serge, Godard's A Woman is a Woman, Bunuel's The Phantom of Liberty and Rohmer's Claire's Knee, he appears in (some as merely an extra) Truffaut's The 400 Blows and The Bride Wore Black, Malle's Elevator to the Gallows and The Lovers, Rivette's Paris Belongs to Us, Renoir's Paris Does Strange Things, Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7, Vadim's La Ronde, de Broca's King of Hearts, Chéreau's Queen Margot and many other cinema classics. He died of cancer May 30, in France. (Variety)
- Roy Erlenborn (1915-2007) - Former child actor who appears in the silent Winnie Winkle films. He also appears as a newsboy in both the Harold Lloyd classic Safety Last! and Chaplin's City Lights. He had uncredited roles in DeMille's The King of Kings, von Stroheim's The Wedding March and the silent version of Ben-Hur. According to Variety, he also voiced characters for the 1967 Doctor Dolittle and was Winnie the Pooh's "Rabbit" (it is unclear for what version -- Junius Matthews was the original Disney "Rabbit"). He died of complications from a bacterial infection June 4, in West Hills, California. (Variety)
- Charles Evans (1931-2007) - Producer of Showgirls and Monkey Shines and executive producer of Tootsie. He was the brother of producer Robert Evans. He died of complications from pneumonia June 2, in New York City. (Variety)
- Harry Frazier (1929-2007) - Actor who appears in McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Deep Cover and The Big Bus. He died of complications from diabetes May 26, in Woodland Hills, California. (Playbill)
- Don Granberry (?-2007) - Actor and assistant director who appears in Star 80, Mrs. Soffel, and Physical Evidence, for which he also served as the first assistant director. He was also first assistant director on The Last Chase and many movies made for television. He died May 31. (Vancouver Sun via alt.obituaries)
- George Greeley (1917-2007) - Composer of music for Hellcats of the Navy, The Guns of Fort Petticoat, The 27th Day and Comanche Station. He also wrote the theme song for the TV series My Favorite Martian; the music is also heard in the 1999 movie adaptation. He died of emphysema May 26, in Sherman Oaks, California. (Variety)
- Elizabeth Greenberg (c.1962-2007) - Casting director who worked for the productions of Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Patriot, National Treasure, Birth and the recent All the King's Men remake. She was also an actress, appearing as the Liberty Bell guide in National Treasure and as a teacher in Birth. She also provided her voice for supporting characters in The Incredibles. She died of pancreatic cancer May 11, in New York. (Variety)
- Mark Harris (1922-2007) - Novelist who wrote the book-turned-film Bang the Drum Slowly. He died of complications from Alzheimer's disease May 30, in Santa Barbara, California. (AZ Central)
- Norman Kaye (1927-2007) - Australian actor who appears in Moulin Rouge!, Oscar and Lucinda and many films by Paul Cox, including the director's most recent, Human Touch. He also co-wrote Cox's Cactus and scored a few of the director's films, including Vincent. He died May 28 in Sydney. (The Age)
- Cynthia Lindsay (1914-2007) - Author of the Boris Karloff biography "Dear Boris" and former stunt double for Claudette Colbert and Sonja Henie. She was also one of the uncredited swimmers in Busby Berkeley's Footlight Parade. She died May 2 in Santa Monica, California. (Variety)
- Maurice Marsac (1915-2007) - Actor best known for playing a snooty French waiter or maitre d' in The Jerk, Dragnet, Take One False Step and The Razor's Edge, as well as in a number of television episodes. He also appears in The Big Red One, To Have and Have Not, The Poseidon Adventure, How to Marry a Millionaire, Gigi, King of Kings and Gambit. He died of cardiac arrest May 6, in Santa Rosa, California. (LA Times)
- Witarina Mitchell (c.1906-2007) - Actress who starred in the silent film The Devil's Pit (aka Under the Southern Cross). She died June 11 in New Zealand. (newswire.co.nz)
- Sotiris Moustakas (1940-2007) - Greek actor who played "Mimithos" in Zorba the Greek. He died of cancer June 4, in Athens. (PR-Inside)
- Carroll Timothy O'Meara (1943-2007) - Oscar-nominated editor of The Rose. He also edited Big Wednesday, Hoosiers, The Last Starfighter and Conan the Barbarian. He was an assistant editor on Blazing Saddles, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and All the President's Men and an associate editor on Malice. He died May 16. (Variety)
- Andre Philippe (c.1928-2007) - Actor who appears in many of Paul Mazurksky's films, including Harry and Tonto, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Scenes From a Mall, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Alex in Wonderland. He also appears in Graveyard Tramps (aka Invasion of the Bee Girls), Black Belt Jones and Oh, God! Book II. He died of congestive heart failure April 29, in Venice Beach, California. (Variety)
- Adrian Pintea (1954-2007) - Romanian actor who appears in Nostradamus, Capitaine Conan, Vlad, Mandroid and Francis Ford Coppola's next film, Youth Without Youth. He died June 8 in Bucharest. (HotNews.ro)
- Nick Ramus (?-2007) - Native American actor who appears in 3 Ninjas Knuckle Up, Invasion U.S.A., The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. He died May 30 in Benton, Arizona. (Tucson.com)
- Marianne Ruuth (1931-2007) - Entertainment journalist, a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and author of biographies on Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey. She also translated the English version of Ingmar Bergman's book "Images (My Life in Pictures)" and appears as a critic in Paul David's Starry Night, for which she was also a casting director. She died June 2 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
- Seth Sakai (1932-2007) - Actor who appears in The Next Karate Kid, Midway, Pearl Harbor and The Hunted. He died May 10 in Hawaii. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
- Wallace Seawell (1916-2007) - Photographer of portraits and glamour shots during Hollywood's Golden Age. He died May 29 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
- Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) - Senegalese novelist and filmmaker who is credited with being the first African director to achieve international success. He wrote and directed Mooladé, Faat Kiné, Xala and Black Girl, which is said to be the first film made by a black African director. He died June 10, in Dakar, Senegal. (NY Times)
- Patrick Stockstill (c.1950-2007) - Official historian of and for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During Academy Awards telecasts, he served as the "keeper of the Oscars," handing out statuettes while keeping records of their reception. He died of complications following a heart transplant May 24, in Los Angeles. (Variety)
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