The Silver Screen Oasis

Very sad to hear about Nimoy. He is one of my childhood idols.

Leonard Nimoy - One of the icons of Science Fiction and a true legend of his time.



Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock

Thank you Leonard Nimoy for Spock, for the life you led and for restoring Griffith Observatory for all of us.

"I have been - and always shall be - your friend."

The great character actor Richard Bakalyan has left us at age 84. Never had the chance to meet him but some years back wrote to him, requesting a photo that I could display in the studio of my Media Actors Workshop. He not only forwarded a personally-inscribed picture but also included two signed stills from "The Delicate Delinquent." Maybe one of the great screen "toughs," but a kindly and gracious human being.

RIP.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/r ... tor-778444

Sad news to report. Actor and all-'round nice guy James Best has passed away.

http://www.msn.com/en-ca/tv/news/james- ... ailynews11

He had said some nice things about a Western novel I'd wrote and I'd just sent him off copies of my latest two books. Whether or not he had the chance to read them, I'll always appreciate his kind and encouraging words. In my opinion, he and SSO favorite Ben Johnson were two of the screen's most authentic cowboys.

RIP and sincere condolences to Dorothy and his children.

That is too bad. I always thought it unfortunate, in a way, that many knew him only from "The Dukes of Hazzard." Never really a fan of the show I'm sure it provided him a good living but there was such a rich body of supporting work in his history.

I only knew him as Sheriff Roscoe, but I loved him on the Dukes show. RIP.

Character actor Geoffrey Lewis, who I just saw again in The Wind and the Lion at the TCM Fest, has died.

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/usw ... 185827.php

And satirist Stan Freberg died yesterday:

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2015/ ... st_and.php

Unless I'm very much mistaken, James Best played the meanest guitar in Mayberry. I don't know if the actor himself played, but the character set the thing on fire!

“Don’t blink too much”
“Don’t move your eyes if talking to another actor off screen.”
“Just do what you would do.”

The above was the advice of director Robert Wise to actor Richard Johnson while making one of their best films, The Haunting (1963). Johnson has died at the age of 87. His roguish air on-screen made him first choice for James Bond, but the theater, where the actor worked from 1944 to 1999, remained a touchstone for the actor, despite occasional turns in movies. His full obituary can be seen at the link below

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... tuary.html

Robert Wise's advice was good. Don't act!

He wasn't an actor or screenwriter, director or behind the camera personnel, but Vince Bugliosi looms large in the history of the late 1960s history and in our collective memory.

In August, 1969, a small rag tag bunch of hippies drove up into Benedict Canyon and into history with their savage assault on actress Sharon Tate and her house guests and then repeated that savagery the following night in the more middle-class terrain of Los Feliz (where the house from Double Indemnity still sits) when they attacked unassuming grocer Leo and Rosemary La Bianca.

By morning, Los Angeles and most of the country was gripped in fear as no felt safe. Luckily for all, Vince Bugliosi was assigned to the case in the district attorney's office, and when the Manson Family was finally apprehended out in Death Valley a few months later, he began to piece together the often bizarre and out-of-control story that culminated in murder high above the lights of the City of Angels and in a homey, small neighborhood many miles away.

The story of that case and the conviction he secured for all involved became the basis of his best selling book, Helter Skelter.

Vince Bugliosi died yesterday at the age of 80.

Thanks, Vince for all you did and RIP.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f6d3ca75 ... al-dies-80

So sorry to hear about Vince Bugliosi. I'd read all his books, and he was a force to be reckoned with.