• Russell Lloyd (1916-2008) - Oscar-nominated editor of John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King. He edited 11 of Huston's films in total, including Moby Dick, The MacKintosh Man, Reflections in a Golden Eye, The Unforgiven and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. He also edited Tinto Brass' Caligula, Anthony Page's The Lady Vanishes, Peter Sellers' final film, The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu and Julien Duvivier's 1948 adaptation of Anna Karenina, on which he was also a second-unit director. He co-directed the 1949 melodrama The Last Days of Dolwyn, which starred Richard Burton, and was a location director for the 1950 Disney adaptation of Treasure Island. He died January 21 in Cranleigh, England. (Independent)

• Christopher Allport (1947-2008) - Character actor who starred in the 1979 slasher flick Savage Weekend. He also appears in To Live and Die in L.A., the '86 Invaders from Mars remake and the horror film Jack Frost and its direct-to-video sequel Jack Frost 2: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowmen. He died in an avalanche January 25, in Wrightwood, California. (Star-Telegram.com)
• Christian Brando (aka Gary Brown) (1958-2008) - Actor and son of Marlon Brando. He appears in the Barbara Streisand movie Yentl and the Peter Sellers movie I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! He died from pneumonia January 26, in Los Angeles. (Variety)
• Heath Ledger (1979-2008) - Oscar-nominated actor who starred in Brokeback Mountain, Cassanova, The Brothers Grimm, 10 Things I Hate About You, Monster's Ball, The Order, A Knight's Tale, Ned Kelly, I'm Not There and The Four Feathers. He will be seen this summer as The Joker in The Dark Knight. Read Monika's original breaking news post and my update and also check out the Cinematical tribute to Ledger here.
• Reverend Lynn Lemon (1911-2008) - Minister who played a minister in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space and Denis Sanders' Invasion of the Bee Girls. He also appears as himself in the documentary The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood Jr. He died of a heart attack January 15, in Bedford, Texas. (Fangoria)
• Gina Louise (1971-2008) - Hair stylist who worked on Playing Mona Lisa, which starred Alicia Witt and Harvey Fierstein, and Around the Fire, starring Tara Reid and Devon Sawa. She died January 1. (Entertainment Insiders)

TV personality and actress Maila Nurmi, better known to horror buffs as Ed Wood's Vampira, has passed away at aged 86, according to ShockTillYouDrop. With her coal-black hair and ghostly pale skin, Vampira became a cult sensation in the 1950s as she introduced films on The Vampira Show and interviewed guests. As a sort of pioneer of horror-comedy, Nurmi would encourage those she interviewed to talk to her pet spider or have them sign an epitaph instead of an autograph, things like that. Nurmi's persona of Vampira would reach its apex when Ed Wood cast her to essentially play the same character -- "vampire girl" -- in his infamous flop Plan 9 from Outer Space. The persona she created would also be made fresh for a new generation when Lisa Marie put her stamp on the character in Tim Burton's 1994 semi-classic Ed Wood. Best line: "I've got real offers from real studios, buddy -- I don't need to b**w some dentist for a part."

If you're interested in reading up about Nurmi's life, you'll find a lot to get into -- as a teenager she was a model for Man Ray as well as a pin-up girl for men's magazines. As Vampira, she was actually quite a success for a time and was nominated for an Emmy at one point and also seems to have had a fling with James Dean shortly before his untimely death. In later life she opened an antiques store and also suffered a number of personal tragedies including being burned in a fire. She also feuded with and sued Cassandra Peterson -- TV's Elvira -- who she accused of stealing her act.

• Elkan Allan (1922-2006) - Writer and producer best known in the UK for creating the show Ready, Steady, Go!, who also made a documentary called Love in Our Time, which was one of the first films to address homosexuality. Also a member of BAFTA, he was very knowledgeable of cinema and he conducted interviews with film greats like Orson Welles and Richard Burton for The Times. He passed away on June 25.
• Margara Alonso (c.1928-2006) - Argentinean actress who appeared in the films The Cloud and Captive. She died June 21 of emphysema, in Buenos Aires.
• Eileen Barton (1929-2006) - Singer best known for the song "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake", she also appeared in the infamous Jayne Mansfield film Promises! Promises! as "Girl in Doctor's Office". She passed away Tuesday.
• Fabián Bielinsky (1959-2006) - See Kim's eulogy from Saturday.
• Wayne Brown (1941-2006) - Actor who played a croupier in Vegas Vacation. He died June 25, of cancer.
• Lisa D. Kernan (c.1953-2006) - Arts librarian at UCLA and film scholar, whose expertise on movie trailers became the subject of her doctorate thesis, titled "Coming Attractions: Reading American Movie Trailers." She was also a consultant on and appeared in the doc Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer. She died of cancer on June 25, in Los Angeles.
• Casey Kono (?-2006) - Actor who played "Agent # 2" in Savage Beach.
• Nicolas Mazenda (c.1973-2006) - Zimbabwe dancer, choreographer and actor who appeared in the short film Kare Kare Zvako.
• Gene Montoya (c.1954-2006) - Dancer and choreographer whose credits include Barton Fink, The Mask and Can't Stop the Music. He died on June 23.
• Moose (1990-2006) - Dog that shared the title role in My Dog Skip with his son Enzo. The two dogs also both played Eddie on the sitcom Frasier. He had retired at the age of 10, at which time Enzo took over the part of Eddie, and his final role was as old Skip in the Frankie Muniz and Kevin Bacon film. He died of old age on June 22.
• Pinuccia Nava (1920-2006) - Italian actress who appeared in the films Mio Figlio Professore and Il Mantenuto.
• Staff Sgt. Raymond J. Plouhar (c.1976-2006) - One of the military recruiters featured in the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. He was killed June 26 in a roadside bombing in Iraq.
• Roland Schlotzhauer (c.1956-2006) - Cinematographer who shot Raising Jeffrey Dahmer. He was killed Friday in a helicopter crash while filming scenes for The Final Season, in Walford, IA.
• Stephen Tiger (c.1949-2006) - Member of the Native American rock group Tiger Tiger who also appeared as a Seminole in The Whoopee Boys. He died June 26 of a head injury after a fall, in Miami.
• Lennie Weinrib (1935-2006) - Actor, writer and director with mostly voice work on his resume. In addition to many television cartoons, he also can be heard in the films Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, and Riki-Tiki-Tavi. He died at his home in Chile.
• Gwen Wilson (1918-2006) - Actress whose most prominent role was "Mrs. Molinaro" in the film Gremlins. She died on June 25.
• Kathleen O'Hara Wood (c.1922-2006) - Widow of the infamously bad film director Ed Wood, she was portrayed by Patricia Arquette in the Tim Burton-directed biopic. Her film credits on the IMDb include Art Director on Night of the Ghouls and "Woman at Carnival" in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died, which was made in 1998 from a script by Wood. She died June 26 from cancer of the esophagus, in Hollywood.
• Shiona Wood (1948-2006) - Education officer for Edinburgh's Filmhouse theatre as well as for the Edinburgh International Film Festival. She is also the founder of the charity Scottish Kids are Making Movies, which inspires teens to express themselves through film.