calliopes_pen: (blueshiftofdeath Columbo explains)
Larry Storch passed away in his sleep at the age of 99. May he rest in peace.

I remember that I loved F-Troop back when Nick At Nite aired it in the very early 90’s. Over in the Columbo subreddit, someone linked to the time Storch was in an episode as a driving instructor who was terrified of Columbo’s driving skills, or lack thereof.

I had forgotten the trivia that he was in 1975’s The Ghost Busters, so kudos to Ghostbusters News for that reminder. I never watched that series, but knew of the headache it caused for Ghostbusters (1984). I did watch an episode of Filmation’s cartoon of it (rented by mistake in the 80’s; movie store gave that rather than The Real Ghostbusters, since that was next to it on the shelf).

Oh, and Storch was also in an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker as Swede; the episode was The Vampire.

Lenny Von Dohlen passed away on July 5th, at the age of 63, following a long illness. May he rest in peace.

Evidently, he was mostly known to people thanks to Twin Peaks. I never watched that, and almost thought I had never heard of him before. However, after checking his filmography, I see that he was in Dracula’s Widow (1989) as Raymond, which I watched earlier in the year. He’s the guy bitten and controlled by Vanessa.

Looking through his other work, I may need to track down Jennifer 8 (1992). I believe that Electric Dreams (1984) is on Tubi.

(In honor of Storch appearing on the show, have a Columbo icon)
calliopes_pen: (taibhrigh hear the Ood song)
Fred Ward has passed away at the age of 79. At this time, no cause of death was given. May he rest in peace.

Not being a fan of the Tremors franchise, I didn’t think I was truly acquainted with his work. And then, I scrolled through his filmography. To my amusement, he played Sgt. Hoke Moseley in Miami Blues (1990), which I had just finished watching on Tubi last night. His performance was genuinely fantastic in a movie that was not the best. He was almost the only reason I stuck with it to the end.

Looking beyond that, I need to track down Cast A Deadly Spell (1991). Would anyone recommend Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985)? I’ve heard of the title in passing before, but never knew if it was worth watching.
calliopes_pen: (rose_in_shadow sherlock holmes profile)
Kenneth Welsh has passed away at the age of 80. May he rest in peace. Based on what I’m reading in his obituaries, a lot of people remember him as Windom Earle from Twin Peaks. I have never seen that series, as it never really appealed to me.

I knew him as Watson from the Sherlock Holmes movies that starred Matt Frewer. The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire is currently on Tubi, and I recently rewatched it. If you want to view Hallmark’s version in order of release, it was thus: The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000) (not to be confused with the Richard Roxburgh version released elsewhere around the same time). The Sign of the Four (2001). The Royal Scandal (2001) (which I have yet to see). The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002).

Reading through his filmography, I believe that I need to track down The Lizzie Borden Chronicles (2015). And, of course, the aforementioned The Royal Scandal (2001).

Just a couple of minutes after I posted the above, I heard of the following death. George Pérez has passed away, at the age of 67, due to complications from pancreatic cancer. May he rest in peace. I loved his work, and he will be deeply missed.

Via a posting to his Facebook page, which was quoted on Bleeding Cool: "George's memorial service will take place at MEGACON Orlando at 6pm on Sunday, May 22nd. It will be open to all."
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook Mrs. Weston frets)
Nehemiah Persoff passed away yesterday at the age of 102. May he rest in peace.

I briefly wondered why I believed that he had died in 2016, before I realized I was just mixing him up with Frank Finlay. As it is, the first thing I think of when I hear Persoff’s name is the Purple Playhouse production of Dracula from 1973, which I finally tracked down thanks to it getting leaked to Youtube back in 2017. He was a great Van Helsing. I also loved his episode of Columbo.

I went through his filmography to see if I knew him from anything else. I had forgotten that he was also in The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969); when I was going through a giallo phase, it was one of the better ones. Thanks to Heroes And Icons, I have seen his episode of The High Chaparrel. He was also in three episodes of Barney Miller, as two different characters, and five episodes of The Untouchables (as four different characters).

Later today, I will watch Voyage of the Damned (1976), since I spotted that one on Tubi just a few days ago.
calliopes_pen: (vxangelkissxv Holmes in fog)
June Brown has passed away at the age of 95. May she rest in peace.

I presume a lot of people will know her from EastEnders, based on everything that I have read. I have never seen that particular soap opera, so I remember her in the role of Annie Chapman in Murder By Decree (1979). For Doctor Who fans, she was also in the serial The Time Warrior, where she played Lady Eleanor of Wessex.

Looking through her filmography, I believe that I need to track down Gormenghast (2000), which also evidently has Christopher Lee, Ian Richardson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra from Doctor Who). Another which appears to be of particular interest to me would be The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982), which also starred Anthony Hopkins, David Suchet, and Derek Jacobi (so two Van Helsings and a Master in one place).

ETA: A few minutes of searching on Youtube later, and I see that Gormenghast is up on Youtube, along with that particular version of Hunchback. If anyone else wants to watch the latter for free, someone evidently uploaded it 14 years ago, cut into 12 parts.
calliopes_pen: (wolfbane_icons mad scientist)
William Hurt passed away yesterday, at the age of 71, as a result of complications from prostate cancer, which had already metastasized to his bones in 2018. May he rest in peace.

I mostly think of his role in Mr. Brooks (2007) when I think of him, since that’s the first thing I ever watched with him in it. It’s currently on Tubi. Thanks to Tubi, I’ve also recently seen him in Winter’s Tale (2014).

I would recommend the two part miniseries Frankenstein (2004), which starred Alec Newman as Victor Frankenstein; Hurt was wonderful as Professor Waldman. In the same movie, you can also find Dan Stevens, two years away from being Arthur in Dracula (2006). For fans of Mary Shelley's novel, this is one of the more faithful versions. At the time of this writing, you can find a few uploads of it on Youtube. Just know that in its entirety, it’s 3 hours, and 24 minutes long. (When it aired on Comet last year, it then became a six hour event.)

Looking through Hurt’s filmography, I see a few films that I need to track down: Body Heat (1981), Jane Eyre (1996), and The Countess (2009).
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook thisbluespirit Elizabeth Fran)
Veronica Carlson has passed away at the age of 77. May she rest in peace.

I was just looking up some of her work yesterday, and was actually planning to watch The Ghoul (1975) tomorrow, for the first time. So I believe I will also be doing a rewatch of a few other films of hers in the not too distant future: Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), and The Horror of Frankenstein (1970).
calliopes_pen: (weasleyqueen  Janine and Egon)
Ivan Reitman passed away in his sleep Saturday night, at the age of 75. May he rest in peace.

He will be best known to me as the director of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. I remember reading how proud he was to see the three surviving leads from the first two movies appear in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Part of that interview is even in the obit at The Hollywood Reporter.
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook John Seward frets)
I’m going in the order in which these five died or were announced. I ran out of space in the post title, or I would have included all of them up there, too.

Rest in peace, Dr. Elizabeth Miller. She passed away peacefully on January 2nd, at the age of 82. She will be missed. If you haven’t heard of her, she was into the academic side of everything that involved Dracula, as well as Bram Stoker. I hunted down and devoured her published works back in the late 90’s and very early 2000s, and was thrilled by the fact she wrote the foreword for Lord of the Vampires, by Jeanne Kalogridis, back in 1996.

She won two Lord Ruthven awards for her work, and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Dracula Society in 2012.

Via Vampires.com, which was quoting her obituary: “Between 1997 and 2012 she wrote or edited and published seven books on Dracula, the latter, entitled The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker, on which her co-editor was Dacre Stoker, grand-nephew of Bram Stoker. She was also the impetus behind 20-plus articles on aspects of Stoker and Dracula; she delivered lectures at universities, learned studies, conferences, ballet productions and private functions, as well as becoming involved in several television documentaries and scores of newspaper and magazine articles on the two.”

Sidney Poitier passed away on January 6th, at the age of 94. May he rest in peace. Unfortunately, I am not acquainted with any of his works, so I’ll need to rectify that shortly. Tubi has They Call Me Mr. Tibbs, as well as Lilies of the Field, so I’ll start there with his filmography.

Peter Bogdanovich passed away on January 6th, at the age of 82, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease May he rest in peace. I was previously only familiar with his work thanks to him directing Targets (1968), which was one of Boris Karloff’s final films. However, last night I watched The Cat’s Meow (2001) on Tubi.

Dwayne Hickman passed away yesterday, at the age of 87, due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. I used to watch so much of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, when the series was rerun on Nick At Nite back in the 1980’s. Thanks to the presence of Vincent Price, I had actually already seen him in Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965). Until I consulted his filmography, though, I wasn’t aware that he had directed three episodes of Designing Women, too.

Bob Saget has passed away at the age of 65. May he rest in peace. I loved America’s Funniest Home Videos back when it was first starting out, probably when I was around the age of 8 or 9. I drifted away from it, though I did also watch Full House for a very brief period of time.

Looking through his filmography, I had forgotten that he was in an episode of The Greatest American Hero, back in 1983; I watched that particular episode a few weeks back on Heroes And Icons. He was also the voice of the future Ted in How I Met Your Mother, throughout the duration of the series.
calliopes_pen: (taibhrigh hear the Ood song)
Betty White passed away today at the age of 99. May she rest in peace.

(She would have turned 100 on January 17th. I had a bad feeling they were jinxing things when I started seeing those promos for her 100th birthday celebration, but hoped I was wrong.)
calliopes_pen: (sallymn thinking deep thoughts)
Anne Rice passed away last night, at the age of 80, as a result of complications from a stroke. May she rest in peace.

She will be forever known as the author who wrote the entirety of The Vampire Chronicles*. I never got around to reading those, though did stumble across several fanfic crossovers with Highlander: The Series back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s. (And still recall various author’s notes begging her not to come after them given how she disliked fanfic at that point in time.)

At some point soon, I think I need to rectify that omission, and at least read Interview With The Vampire. I did watch and enjoy Interview with the Vampire (1994), though that was primarily as a result of the performances of Kirsten Dunst and Tom Cruise. I recently heard the novel was going to be adapted into a tv series on AMC, though I don’t have cable.

*There are more books in that series than I realized!
calliopes_pen: (tarlanx Jonathan Lucy consolation comfor)
Dean Stockwell passed away on Sunday, at the age of 85, from natural causes. May he rest in peace.

While I may not have been the biggest Quantum Leap fan, I did love Al. My favorite episode is probably the one that aired around Halloween one year, where Al was Satan. When I finally watched him on Battlestar Galactica within the last couple of years, I found Cavil fascinating; here’s my favorite moment with him.

Looking through his filmography, I didn’t realize that he was the older Tim Drake in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. I had no idea that he was an uncredited valet attendant in Once Bitten (1985). At some point, I need to track down his episode of Hammer House of Mystery And Suspense, titled The Sweet Scent of Death.
calliopes_pen: (blairprovence goodbye Sarah Jane)
Willie Garson has passed away, at the age of 57, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. May he rest in peace.

I mostly remember loving him as Mozzie from the brief time (probably just saw the first season, and part of season 2, not sure; I wandered away and never cared enough to return) I watched White Collar years ago. I knew he recently popped up on a few episodes of Supergirl when I happened to look in on that show, and during a rewatch of a few episodes of Quantum Leap (on Comet) a few months back, I was surprised to realize that he played Lee Harvey Oswald.

After looking through his filmography, I realized that I do remember him from Soapdish (1991) and Stargate SG-1. In the latter, he was the alien that helped produce Wormhole X-Treme. He was apparently a bodyguard in an episode of Buffy: Killed By Death, from season 2.
calliopes_pen: (sallymn silent film star Alice Faye)
Ed Asner passed away earlier today at the age of 91. May he rest in peace.

I will forever remember him not just as Lou Grant...but as Granny Goodness from over on Justice League Unlimited. (And apparently he also voiced the character in Superman: The Animated Series, and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.) Until just now reading through his filmography over on IMDB, I never realized he was the voice of J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, or Hudson over on Gargoyles.

Right before I heard the news, I was watching him in an old episode (with Barbara Stanwyck) of The Untouchables, as part of the marathon they do every Sunday over on Heroes And Icons. IMDB tells me it was one of four episodes he popped up in (mostly different characters; he played Frank twice) called Search For A Dead Man; it originally aired in 1963.
calliopes_pen: (kcscribbler Holmes Watson travel friends)
Una Stubbs has passed away, at the age of 84, following a brief illness. May she rest in peace.

No matter how I feel about the series of Sherlock as a whole, I have always felt that she made a fantastic Mrs. Hudson, and her very presence was a delight. I still remember a particular quote about the character, too. “Mrs Hudson, leave Baker Street? England would fall!“ She will be sorely missed.

Looking through her IMDB filmography, I see that she also popped up on The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, back in 1971; the episode is The Woman In the Big Hat. I have not yet had the opportunity to view that series, but I had heard of it before.
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook Mrs. Weston frets)
Richard Donner has passed away at the age of 91. May he rest in peace.

I really need to rewatch The Omen (1976) (which he directed) and The Final Conflict (1981) (which he executive produced).

I also finally need to get around to watching The Omen (1995), an unsold tv pilot which he also executive produced. I don’t really need to go very far to track it down, since I stumbled across it over on Youtube the other day.
calliopes_pen: (wolfbane_icons Greta Garbo cover face)
Shane Briant passed away on May 27th, at the age of 74, following a long illness. May he rest in peace. I was trying to wait a few days to see if other horror themed sites (like Bloody Disgusting or Dread Central; something other than what I’ve linked to, which wasn’t The Mirror) would pick up the news about his death, but it seems they really haven’t. At least, not as of this writing.

I remember him best as the title character in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973), which Dan Curtis produced. I rewatched the film last night on Tubi, if anyone’s curious about giving it a view.

He was also in Captain Kronos--Vampire Hunter (1974), which I’ve watched before (you can watch it here, on Youtube, for free; Hammer uploaded it). I have yet to see Straight On Till Morning (1972), so I obviously need to track that one down, along with Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell (1974).
calliopes_pen: (taibhrigh hear the Ood song)
Tawny Kitaen has passed away at the age of 59. May she rest in peace. At the time of this writing, the cause of death had yet to be undetermined.

I will always remember her for two roles. The first being that of Linda, from Witchboard (1986); Comet TV absolutely loves showing that movie. I tend to watch whenever I see it in the schedule. As for the second, she was Hercules’ late wife, Deianeira, in three episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (and its assorted films, prior to the start of the series).

I really need to watch The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak (1984).

calliopes_pen: (sallymn Gloria Swanson candle)
Helen McCrory has passed away, at the age of 52, following a battle with cancer. May she rest in peace.

I thought I only knew her from season 2 of Penny Dreadful, where she was fantastic as Evelyn Poole/Madame Kali. However, after consulting IMDB, I see that I had forgotten she was also in Doctor Who’s The Vampires of Venice, as Rosanna. She was wonderful there.

She was also in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (2004), which I watched once about a decade ago.

At some point, I might need to see about tracking down Frankenstein (2007), where she apparently plays Dr. Victoria Frankenstein, with the story transplanted into a modern day setting.
calliopes_pen: (54 IJ Edith silhouette books)
Jessica Walter has passed away at the age of 80. May she rest in peace.

I was never a fan of Arrested Development, so I’m not familiar with her from there. Oh, no. I remember her from (of all things) Dr. Strange (1978), where she played Morgan Le Fey. I watched that several times, back in the early days of The Sci-Fi Channel.

Having looked through her IMDB filmography, I didn’t realize that was her in an episode of Columbo, as well as an episode of Babylon 5. I also see that I need to track down Play Misty For Me (1971), Vampire (1979), and Temptress (1995).
calliopes_pen: (sallymn SG-1 ascend through gate)
Cliff Simon passed away on March 9th, at the age of 58, following a kiteboarding accident. May he rest in peace.

I will always remember him best as Ba’al on Stargate SG-1. During later seasons that weren’t that great, the character of Ba’al (and his many clones) was always a welcome dose of fun and charisma.
calliopes_pen: (oraclegreen Quentin Angelique)
Christopher Pennock has passed away, at the age of 76, following “several days of hospitalized care.” May he rest in peace. I first heard the news via an e-mail from Shadowgram, and waited to find something to link to before I posted.

I will remember him best as one of his many characters on Dark Shadows. He played Jeb Hawkes during the Leviathan storyline, as well as Gabriel Collins (in 1840; in 1841 Parallel Time; in Night of Dark Shadows), Cyrus Longworth (and his version of Hyde in his alternate personality of John Yaeger), and astrologist Sebastian Shaw throughout his tenure there.
calliopes_pen: (rose_in_shadow sherlock holmes profile)
Christopher Plummer has passed away, at the age of 91, due to complications from a fall. May he rest in peace.

While I am not a fan of The Sound of Music, I absolutely adored him as General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He was a fantastic Sherlock Holmes in Murder By Decree (1979), which I really need to rewatch. I might also revisit (though I cannot recommend it, from what I recall of the one time I watched it) Dracula 2000 (2000), since he was Van Helsing in that.

After sifting through his filmography, I see that I need to watch Shadow Dancing (1988), Dial ‘M’ For Murder (1981), and Somewhere In Time (1980).
calliopes_pen: (wolfbane_icons Frankenstein criminal bra)
Cloris Leachman has passed away at the age of 94. May she rest in peace.

I think the first thing I ever saw her in might have been (possibly before I watched Mary Tyler Moore reruns on Nick At Nite) The Giant of Thunder Mountain (1990). I liked her in Young Frankenstein. Thanks to Comet, I recently caught the episode of Night Gallery with her in it.

Looking through her extensive filmography, I see that I need to track down The Demon Murder Case (1983) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955). I didn’t remember that she was in My Boyfriend’s Back (1993).

While I don’t have a Young Frankenstein icon, have one from Frankenstein (1931).
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook thisbluespirit light the way)
Mira Furlan has passed away, at the age of 65, from an undisclosed illness. May she rest in peace. Her health had been reportedly fading for some time, and the former cast of Babylon 5 had been aware of it.

I fell in love with Babylon 5 when it was airing on Comet. She was fantastic as Delenn. And, in the past, I had thought she might just fare rather well if she were ever cast as the Doctor on Doctor Who.

Sadly, I do not have any icons of her on Babylon 5 (I think the only one I’ve got is the snark about ducks and cats from Londo and Vir).
calliopes_pen: (sallymn thinking deep thoughts)
Siegfried Fischbacher, of Siegfried And Roy fame, has passed away at the age of 81, due to pancreatic cancer. May he rest in peace.

He was preceded in death by Roy, who died of complications relating to covid-19 in May of last year.
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook thisbluespirit Elizabeth Fran)
Diana Millay has passed away at the age of 85. May she rest in peace. I first heard the news via e-mail from Shadowgram.

For Dark Shadows fans, she will be best remembered as Laura Collins, the Phoenix. I have never had a chance to view her original storyline where she came after David, but I have seen her reprisal of the character during the 1897 storyline.

Another incarnation of Laura Collins, which bore no relation to the Phoenix, can also be found in Night of Dark Shadows (1971).
calliopes_pen: (lost_spook Mina concerned)
Barbara Shelley has passed away, at the age of 88, as a result of covid related complications. May she rest in peace.

I remember her best from various Hammer films. To me, her role as Helen in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) was very memorable; I loved it, and recommend the film.

Thanks to Svengoolie, I’ve seen her in The Shadow of the Cat (1961), and Village of the Damned (1960). I loved her in The Gorgon (1964) (which was also on Svengoolie last year, I think).

In 2010, she was interviewed by Mark Gatiss for his series A History of Horror; having seen that at the time, I recommend everything of that. I need to watch Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966), Ghost Story (1974), and the miniseries The Dark Angel (aka Uncle Silas) (1989).

For Doctor Who fans, she was Sorasta, in 1984’s Planet of Fire.
calliopes_pen: (54 IJ Edith candles corridors)
Daria Nicolodi has passed away at the age of 70. May she rest in peace.

When I was on a giallo kick a few years back, I absolutely loved her work in Deep Red (1975), Tenebre (1982), and Opera (1987). She co-wrote Suspiria (1977), with Dario Argento. She will be missed.

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