calliopes_pen

Sir Ian Holm has passed away, at the age of 88, due to complications from Parkinson’s. May he rest in peace. He might be best remembered for his portrayal of Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Lord of the Rings.

I vaguely recalled he was in a version of Frankenstein, and checked on that. After sifting through IMDB, I see that I was remembering two separate things. He played Victor Frankenstein’s father in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), as well as having portrayed the creature in the Mystery And Imagination version of Frankenstein in 1968 (which I must rewatch). In regard to Mystery And Imagination, it seems that he was also in their episode of The Body Snatcher in 1966, which is, sadly, lost.

I evidently need to watch From Hell (2001), given how his appearance apparently factors into the Ripper murders in there. I also need to watch Greystoke:The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984).

(I don’t have any icons of any of his characters, so have one from Frankenstein ‘31.)

Denise Nickerson has passed away, at the age of 62, after being removed from life support. May she rest in peace. I had been following the news of her stroke and accompanying issues via Vampires.com since shortly after they began discussing her declining health.

A lot of people remember her fondly for her role as Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. I was never a fan of that, and preferred her roles as Amy Jennings, Amy Collins (the parallel time version of Amy Jennings), and Nora Collins on the original Dark Shadows.

Freddie Jones has passed away as well, at the age of 91, following a short illness. May he rest in peace. I didn’t think I had heard of him before, until I started reading his IMDB filmography. He was in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series—in particular, the episodes of The Last Vampyre and Wisteria Lodge. He was in the film Young Sherlock Holmes, as Chester Craigwitch; he was Professor Julian Keeley in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973); and he was Ynyr, The Old One, in Krull (1983).

I Hear Of Sherlock Everywhere remembers him here.

I also spotted that he was in three episodes of Mystery And Imagination back in the 60’s. Two of them have been lost to time; the third, Sweeney Todd, I have on my external hard drive thanks to thisbluespirit. I had not yet gotten around to watching it, so I’ll be doing that later.

Trevor Baxter has passed away at the age of 84. May he rest in peace. For Doctor Who fans, he played Professor George Litefoot in the episode The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He reprised the role for Big Finish Productions, in Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles: The Mahogany Murderers, and a series called Jago & Litefoot.

Having looked through his filmography, I see that he was in two episodes of Mystery And Imagination*--The Body Snatcher and Feet Foremost; I believe those are in the portion that are sadly lost. He was also in Jack The Ripper (1988) in the role of Lanyon--that one also starred Michael Caine, Lysette Anthony (Angelique from Dark Shadows 1991), and Susan George (Lucy in Dracula 1968). I have always meant to watch that one, so I’ll track it down. I think I spotted it at DailyMotion earlier, divided into parts.

*Come to think of it, that's two from Mystery And Imagination that have died in the last two months. Peter Sallis was the other one.