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IN MEMORIAM 2017


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Reports also coming in that Barbara Hale has passed away at age 94.

Played Della Street on the original "Perry Mason" (as well the 80s and 90s reunion TV movies). Younger fans probably know her more as the mother of actor William Katt -- she even played Katt's mother on "The Greatest American Hero".

MST3K fans also remember her as Dr. Langer in "The Giant Spider Invasion"

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17 hours ago, J.T. said:

Variety news feed is reporting that Mike Connors (Mannix) passed away on Thursday at the age of 91.

It's always interesting to talk to my mother about classic TV and see what she remembers.  Her big takeaway from Mannix was "He had a black secretary!  She wasn't a maid or nurse to his kids."  Without realizing it, that meant a lot to the maternal parent.

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1 hour ago, piranesi said:

Mannix was such a great show that seems to be suffering for lack of visibility.  It never seems to be running in reruns anywhere for some reason.

I've seen it on now and then on different channels when scrolling through options via digital converter box. Do you get either Decades or Heroes and Icons? It was on either one of those or something like AntennaTV.

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Between the Carolyn Bryant stuff (which hits very, very close to home with me), this Muslim ban nonsense, and one of my favorite actors dying, not exactly the most sunshine happy smile day for me. I've had better days.

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Of course the first thing I think of that Hurt's in is Alien but the second film with him in it is The Proposition where he played the bounty hunter that looks a zillion years old. "Only 77" indeed! And now the third thing is this incredibly underrated crime film which, if memory serves is also the debut of Tim Roth. Watch it! 

 

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5 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Of course the first thing I think of that Hurt's in is Alien but the second film with him in it is The Proposition where he played the bounty hunter that looks a zillion years old. "Only 77" indeed! And now the third thing is this incredibly underrated crime film which, if memory serves is also the debut of Tim Roth. Watch it! 

 

I know that Heaven's Gate almost literally took 2 years to film (and he went and shot Elephant Man during filming), but he plays a graduating college student only four years prior. That's crazy considering that people reviewed Runner Runner for example and thought Justin Timberlake was too old to play a grad student. Life is crazy.

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2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

I'm still stunned he was only 77

Me too.  I would have put him at closer to 90 at this point.

It's hard to find but if you ever have a chance to see Love and Death on Long Island, he is absolutely amazing in it.  Hell, I'm going to watch it right now.  

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When I saw Spaceballs in the theatre, I had never seen ALIEN or "One Froggy Evening."  As such, I didn't "get" the joke of Hurt's scene, but 10-year-old me still thought it was utterly hilarious just because a horrible monster bursts out of somebody's stomach and then sings a wacky ragdime song. Now that I've seen and loved both, it's so much better.

 

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I'm bummed by the loss of Hurt and Connors. 

Mannix was an institution at our house.  We were all about CBS detective and crime shows shows like Cannon, Kojak and Mannix.

i was always amazed by John Hurt's ability to defy typecasting despite the physical qualities like his build and voice that would make it easy to typecast him.

 

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1 hour ago, J.H. said:

When I think of Hurt I, Claudius is always the first thing that comes to mind and the cry of "OH JOVE!" as that character bit the dust

James

 

I feel like an idiot now because I did not know he was in this only to look up who he played and suddenly have it all click for me. Its worse considering how much I enjoyed his part. Going to miss him.

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All I remember about I, Claudius is that I was not allowed to watch it as a kid.

I finally rented the boxed set from a local library and binge watched when I was in college..

His range was amazing.  Hard to believe that the same man played John Merrick in The Elephant Man

was also HC Adam Sutter in V For Vendetta.

 

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I was working at Marvel when Masterpiece re-aired it on PBS in 91/92 as part of their 20th anniversary. It came highly recommended to me by practically everyone in th Bullpen. How could I not watch it after they turned me on to Pink Flamingos, Shaft and Hokuto No Ken?

James

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What terrible news. John Hurt was definitely in my top 5 of all-time favourite actors. This is really painful.

The very first time I saw him was when my father was watching I, Claudius and I walked into the living room just before this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfgDPLkMg-w

I must have been seven or eight years old at the time, and I was at the same time really terrified of John Hurt's character, and completely... 'smitten' by him, in a sort of, 'This is the coolest guy ever! I want to be exactly like him!' way. I began to do my worst/best/worst Caligula impressions and quotes around the house. First, much to the enjoyment of my father, and later much to the annoyance of my father when it got just a little too old and/or creepy.

He was in so many of my favourite all-time movies and even when he only had a tiny role, he was fantastic. One of his later movies that stands out is Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. That one scene where he first growled, 'I should have left you where I found you,' and immediately after interrupting someone with a quick, barked, 'Shut up!' was one of my movie highlights of the year. The former line was really cold and terrifying and spiteful, and the latter reminded me of his Caligula role. Utterly fantastic.

And his voice... Oh God, his voice. I wish he would have done a ton of audiobook recordings. It's one of those voices you could listen to for days at a time. I'll miss him. A lot.

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