yahooyahoo said:

Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles, groundbreaking filmmaker, actor and novelist, dies at 89

https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/ny-melvin-van-peebles-filmmaker-director-actor-novelist-dead-at-89-20210922-z6bjjwixp5gyvcofxq2bfn42bi-story.html

A true Renaissance man, Van Peebles — who influenced a younger generation of Black filmmakers including Spike Lee and John Singleton — was a novelist, playwright, songwriter, musician and painter.

Van Peebles directed the 1970 social comedy “Watermelon Man,” a commercial success about a white bigot who transforms into a Black man, but declined a three-picture contract from Columbia pictures to pursue his own path.

He followed that with 1971′s “Sweetback,” which was made in 19 days for a reported $500,000 and is widely considered to be the first movie in the Blaxploitation genre.

The film, about a poor Black man fleeing from the police, became an instant hit, raking in more than $15 million at the box office. With a $50,000 loan from Bill Cosby, Van Peebles raised his own financing for the 97-minute drama, considered the highest-grossing independent film in history at the time.

Van Peebles also directed a 1973 film adaptation of “Don’t Play Us Cheap!” and the 1989 action comedy “Identity Crisis,” which starred his son Mario.

 MVP had an active performance career until he had to stop. Here he is at Hat City Kitchen in January, 2011...

-s.

Dean Stockwell, 85. So good and creepy in Blue Velvet

Sheila O'Malley's annual birthday tributes to Dean Stockwell were a joy, as is her recap of his life going back even further than his title role in "The Boy With Green Hair."

https://www.rogerebert.com/tributes/the-mystery-was-the-point-on-the-life-of-dean-stockwell-1936-2021

chalmers said:

Sheila O'Malley's annual birthday tributes to Dean Stockwell were a joy, as is her recap of his life going back even further than his title role in "The Boy With Green Hair."

https://www.rogerebert.com/tributes/the-mystery-was-the-point-on-the-life-of-dean-stockwell-1936-2021

 great read! thanks for the link.

Finding it hard to accept he was actually 85 years old. Always seemed much younger, and very cheeky. 

I probably saw Stockwell first in Lynch's Dune, and then in his memorable role in Blue Velvet. But he played a great slimy lawyer called Grimes in William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. which is one of my favorite movies. I caught some Quantum Leap, but wasn't a massive fan of it. He was great in pretty much anything he was in though.

Gosh, another everlasting I thought would never dim…

Wilbur Smith, who’s written vastly popular novels on the African continent, has died, aged 88. 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-14/wilbur-smith-zambia-born-author-dies-in-south-africa-aged-88/100619154

The literary and reading worlds will be rocked.

Stephen Sondheim passed away at 91.

For those of you who don't know who he is, are you kidding me?

Some of his stuff didn't resonate with me, but he was a master of his craft.

The Spielberg remake of "West Side Story" is opening in a couple weeks.

If they announced a revival of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" I'd be in line tomorrow.

WHAT?! No!! 

Stephen who?

So SO sad…

Funny how that song “send in the clowns” is played in my head when I open certain threads on MOL. 
not this thread though, it depressing.

Don’t stumble over dictionary definitions of celebrity, and instead, if you’re able to, read this.

Joseph F. Trinity of Maplewood, a ‘Good & Decent Man,’ Father of 5, Teacher, Veteran, Beloved Neighbor (Village Green)

DaveSchmidt said:

Don’t stumble over dictionary definitions of celebrity, and instead, if you’re able to, read this.

Joseph F. Trinity of Maplewood, a ‘Good & Decent Man,’ Father of 5, Teacher, Veteran, Beloved Neighbor (Village Green)

truly lived a charmed life. And the last of the Mohicans you might say in SOMA. Between death and taxes this very special generation has diminished within the community. 

Mike Nesmith

rhw said:

Mike Nesmith

bummer.

rhw said:

Mike Nesmith

Son of the inventor of Liquid Paper. And, later music critics speculated, the talented artist who could have beaten Gram Parsons to the country-rock punch if a sitcom hadn’t sidetracked him for a couple of years.

The sitcom did give us this:

I hadn’t realised Lina Wertmüller just died, too

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59599270

Michael Nesmith was also one of the people who came up with the idea that became MTV.  Several people claim to be the person who founded the channel, but there is little doubt Nesmith was one of the instrumental people in its creation.

Author Anne Rice (and her noms des plumes)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-12/author-anne-rice-of-interview-with-the-vampire-fame-dead-at-80/100694504
inspiring to read how long her writing career was, and how many books she sold worldwide. Multi-genre, too. 
Libraries should hold special readings in her memory. 

A Hong Kong friend / member of the NYT staff that won a recent Pulitzer Prize.  He and his wife moved to HK at about the same time we did, but it was through an MOL member that we connected.   RIP, Carlos.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/business/media/carlos-tejada-dead.html

Gosh: Joan Didion, too. 87 years. 

I’ve just read that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died. He was 90, although he always seemed to have the fire of a much younger man. 
The world certainly benefitted from his passion and faith. May his memory burn brightly forever.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-22292744

What a time for Sarah Weddington to die, as yet again women’s rights to determine what happens in their wombs are being scrutinised and possibly curtailed by nosy strangers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59798494  And how sad that an obviously talented, intelligent and caring woman with many accomplishments is mainly remembered for one legal case.  She set several ‘first’ records to admire, had a laudable career and died in her sleep aged 76years. 
May her example be a bright star for many to follow.

RIP Coach

Harry Reid. 

bak said:

RIP Coach

John Madden.  I don't even care for football that much but I grew up in the East Bay in the 70s and 80s and Madden was emblematic of a certain kind of Northern Californian.  Everyone felt like they knew him,  people would recount chance encounters for the rest of their lives.  On top of all that, he was just a super talented entertainer.  His cadence and his exclamations, he was a real giant of a man.

Growing up in the UK, I was a fan of American Football but I didn't understand the game really - the reason why certain kinds of plays are called and the formations, etc. It was much later, when I started playing the Madden game and John's often banal and rudimentary but brilliant commentary during the game ("you know... big players make big plays... and that was a big play!") opened up the tactical side of the game to me and gave me a greater understanding of a sport I've never played.

Yeah, I know he also called real games, too, but that's my main experience with him. RIP John.

When Darryl Stingley of the Patriots was paralyzed in a game at Oakland, John Madden stepped up out of nowhere to support Stingley and his loved ones. I remember reading Madden's book a few years later and you could see how outraged he still was about that the fact that when he went to visit Stingley at the hospital after the game, no one was there, causing him to call their coach up at the airport and demand that the team get someone to the hospital.

https://www.sportscasting.com/john-maddens-humanity-was-never-more-apparent-than-after-darryl-stingleys-tragic-injury/