RIP: Reel Important People -- September 4, 2007
Filed under: Obits
Faruk Begolli (1944-2007) - Albanian actor who appears in The Battle of Neretva, Valter brani Sarajevo and Beach Guard in Winter. He also co-wrote Strsljen (aka The Hornet) and Kosovo: Desperate Search, in which he also appears. He died of cancer August 23, in Prishtina, Serbia, Yugoslavia. (BIRN) - Sam Bernstein (1926-2007) - Production accountant for Heaven Can Wait, The Warriors, No Way Out, Rush and Thelma and Louise. He is credited as auditor for Street Fighter and Caddyshack and as financial supervisor on Lightning Jack. He also worked uncredited on The Hustler, The Andromeda Strain, Advise & Consent, Parallax View and The Crow. He died of heart failure August 12, in Sherman Oaks, California. (Variety)
- Jim Carlson (1932-2007) - Writer, mostly for television, who co-scripted the animated feature Pound Puppies and the Legend of Big Paw. He died August 25 or 26 in Castle Rock, Colorado. (The Big Cartoon Forum)
- Bill Catching (1926-2007) - Stunt man who worked on North by Northwest, Spartacus, Blazing Saddles, Mean Streets, The Poseidon Adventure, Salvador, The Cowboys, The Great Race and the 1994 remake of The Getaway. He also did stunts for Moon Over Parador while also filling second unit directing duties and was credited as action director for The Corrupt Ones. As an actor, he can be seen in North by Northwest, The Man from Laramie, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry and Macho Callahan. He died August 24 in Somerton, Arizona. (Yuma Sun)
- Jacek Chmielnik (1953-2007) - Polish actor who co-starred in Vabank (aka Hit the Bank), Vabank II (aka Point of No Return) and Kingsajz (aka King Size). He died of accidental electrocution August 22, in Suchawa, Poland. (Dziennik Online)
- Melissa Stanley Cohen (?-2007) - Production coordinator for Failure to Launch, Ladder 49 and The Wedding Planner. She was an assistant production coordinator for Twelve Monkeys and Washington Square, was a production supervisor for Antwone Fisher and a production assistant for A Dirty Shame. She died of cancer August 29. (Mel's Stuff)
- José Luis de Villalonga (1920-2007) - Spanish actor and author best known as the wealthy Brazilian in Breakfast at Tiffany's, who Audrey Hepburn's character plans to marry. He also co-starred in Juliet of the Spirits, Louis Malle's The Lovers, Cleo from 5 to 7 and Darling. He wrote the novel Fiesta, which was made into a 1995 movie by Pierre Boutron. He died August 30 on Mallorca. (Yahoo!)
- Hansjörg Felmy (1931-2007) - German actor who starred in Hitchcock's Torn Curtain and the Edgar Wallace adaptation The Dead One in the Thames River. He died August 24 in Landshut, Bavaria, Germany. (Bunte)
- Robert Garlock (?-2007) - Publicist who represented Uma Thurman, Penelope Cruz, Clive Owen, Hilary Swank, Hugh Grant, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet and the films Bringing Out the Dead, Basquiat, Pulp Fiction, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The English Patient. He died September 3. (Hollywood Elsewhere)
- Kurt Hübner (1916-2007) - German actor who appears in The Rosegarden, Death is My Trade and Pappa Ante Portas. He died August 21 (or 23) in Munich. (Wikipedia/IMDb)
- Richard Jewell (1962-2007) - Hero-turned-suspect security guard from the 1996 Summer Olympics. He appears as himself in Michael Moore's The Big One. He died August 29, in Woodbury, Georgia. (Newsday)
- Tikhon Khrennikov (1913-2007) - Russian composer and former Secretary of the Composer's Union for the USSR, a position held from 1948 to 1991. He scored the films Ballad of a Hussar, Ruslan and Ludmila and Ivan Pyryev's They Met in Moscow and Six P.M., both of which he also appeared in. He appears as himself in the documentary The War Symphonies: Shostakovich Against Stalin. He died August 14 in Moscow. (The Economist)
- Hilly Kristal (1932-2007) - Former owner of the famous NYC club CBGBs who appears as himself in the Ramones documentary End of the Century. He died of lung cancer August 28, in New York. (ReadJunk)
- Nancy Littlefield (c.1930-2007) - Director of New York City's Mayor's Office for Motion Pictures and Television under Mayor Ed Koch from 1978 to 1983, during which time she oversaw the productions of Manhattan and Sophie's Choice, among others. She resigned to become president of Queens-based (212) Studios but then later became executive director of Queens Public Television. She authored the 2003 book Movies and Television: Getting In. She died of lung cancer August 30, in Delray Beach, Florida. (AP)
- Teizo Matsumura (1929-2007) - Japanese composer who scored multiple films by Kei Kumai (The Sea is Watching), Kazuo Kuroki (Ronin Gai) and Yoji Yamada (Musuko). He died of pneumonia August 6. (The Times)
- Emma Penella (1930-2007) - Spanish actress who starred in El Verdugo, A Love Bewitched and Bulgarian Lovers. She died of septicemia from diabetes August 27, in Madrid. (El Pais.com)
- Doug Riley (1945-2007) - Aka 'Dr. Music'. Composer of the scores to Ivan Reitman's early films Foxy Lady and Cannibal Girls. He also scored the 1976 Canadian film Shoot. He died of a heart attack August 27, in Calgary. (CBC)
- Hans Ruesch (1913-2007) - Writer of the novels The Racers, which became a Kirk Douglas movie, and Top of the World, which he and Nicholas Ray adapted as The Savage Innocents. He died August 27 in Massagno, Switzerland. (SwissInfo)
- Robert Symonds (1926-2007) - Actor who appears in The Exorcist, Primary Colors, ... And Justice for All, Catch Me if You Can and The Ice Pirates. He was married to actress Priscilla Pointer, with whom he appeared in Micky + Maude, C.H.U.D. II, Rumpelstiltskin and Inferno. He died from complications of prostate cancer August 23, in Los Angeles. (Variety)
