In Memorium (Joe Flaherty Dies: ‘SCTV’ And ‘Freaks And Geeks’ Actor Was 82)

Rip Torn, ‘Men in Black,’ ‘Larry Sanders Show’ Star, Dies at 88

Actor Rip Torn, who earned Oscar and Tony nominations as well as an Emmy Award and two Obies, has died Tuesday in Lakeville Conn., his representative confirmed. He was 88.

Torn was equally at home in the comedy of the “Men in Black” film series or TV’s “The Larry Sanders Show” (for which he won his Emmy) and in the drama of “Sweet Bird of Youth” or “Anna Christie,” to name two of the numerous classic works of theater in which he appeared.

The actor was nominated for a supporting-actor Oscar in 1984 for his work as a father who confronts tragedy in Martin Ritt’s “Cross Creek,” one of many rural dramas in which he appeared during his career.

He drew a Tony nomination in 1960 for his first performance on Broadway, as the sadistic son of the town boss in Elia Kazan’s original production of Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth.” Torn later replaced Paul Newman in the starring role of Chance Wayne. He, Newman and Broadway co-star Geraldine Page, whom Torn married in 1963, re-created their roles in the 1962 film adaptation. (Torn also starred as Boss Finley in a 1989 NBC adaptation of the play directed by Nicolas Roeg.)

Unlike many actors, who take on the New York stage before making their way to film work, Torn headed for Hollywood after college, making his bigscreen debut in an uncredited role in Kazan’s 1956 “Baby Doll” and then appearing in the director’s “A Face in the Crowd.” But Torn soon decided that he had put the cart before the horse and headed East. In New York he studied performance with modern-dance doyenne Martha Graham and at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg. (Torn brought his aspiring cousin, Sissy Spacek, into the Actors Studio.)

Like Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman or Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks, Torn and Page “became a glamorous couple in theater circles, assuming roles on the board of the Actors Studio and organizing bashes at the Chateau Marmont when they were in Los Angeles,” the New York Times said.

Torn’s initial successes in New York came not on the stage, however, but in the prestigious anthology shows of 1950s live television such as “Omnibus,” “Playhouse 90” and “The United States Steel Hour.”

The actor’s film career began to gain steam with a supporting role as Gregory Peck’s brother-in-law in the 1959 Korean War pic “Pork Chop Hill” and the part of Judas in Nicholas Ray’s 1961 epic “King of Kings.”

Meanwhile, on Broadway, he followed “Sweet Bird of Youth” with roles in the plays “Daughter of Silence,” Eugene O’Neill’s “Strange Interlude” and “Blues for Mister Charlie” in the early 1960s.

He made his Off Broadway debut in O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms,” and in 1967 he won an Obie for his role in Norman Mailer’s “Deer Park.”

But Torn was developing a reputation for erratic behavior. He worked for racial integration in theater but ended up alienating “Blues for Mister Charlie” author James Baldwin even after defending his then-shocking play about racism in America. In 1968, after Torn became frustrated over the creative direction of the project and as the cameras were rolling, he attacked Mailer with a hammer on the set of the film “Maidstone,” which Mailer was directing and in which the pair were starring.

The signal such moment in Torn’s life, however, had occurred a year earlier, when the actor had gathered with Terry Southern, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper to discuss a possible starring role for Torn — the one that ultimately went to Jack Nicholson — in “Easy Rider.” At this dinner, tempers flared; in 1994 Hopper claimed on “The Tonight Show” that Torn had attacked him with a knife. Torn sued Hopper for defamation — he claimed it was Hopper who pulled a knife on him — and won a total of $950,000 in court.

Despite the ultimate legal victories, Torn felt that Hopper’s version of what happened, repeated over the years in Hollywood circles before Hopper related it to Jay Leno on national television, hurt his career. (Indeed, the money awarded him by the judge including compensation for lost income during his career.)

In any case, Torn was a busy actor during the two decades before he started his six-year run on “The Larry Sanders Show” in 1992.

On TV and film he played a number of historic personages, from Walt Whitman (twice), Henry Miller and Kit Carson to three U.S. presidents — Lyndon Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant and Richard Nixon, in the 1979 miniseries “Blind Ambition.” (He had earlier played Nixon onstage in New York in “Expletive Deleted.”) Torn even portrayed Carlo Ponti in 1980 NBC telepic “Sophia Loren: Her Own Story.”

On the bigscreen in the 1970s, he had roles in “Tropic of Cancer” (in which he starred), “Crazy Joe,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “Coma,” “The Seduction of Joe Tynan” (he memorably played a womanizing Southern senator) and “Heartland” (a powerful Western drama in which he played a simple man of subtle wit).

While he picked up his Oscar nom for “Cross Creek” in 1984, Torn was often in a silly mood in his films of the 1980s, including “The Beastmaster,” “Jinxed,” “Airplane II: The Sequel” and “Cash.”

Torn also directed a feature, 1988 Whoopi Goldberg vehicle “The Telephone,” but despite a script by Harry Nillson and Terry Southern, it was not a success critically or commercially.

He had continued to work in theater all along. Torn directed a number of plays Off Broadway, most successfully Michael McClure’s “The Beard,” which won him a helming Obie in 1968. (In 1977 he directed a pair of Strindberg plays, “Creditors” and “The Stronger,” that starred both his current wife, Page, and his future wife, Amy Wright.) He also appeared on Broadway in “The Glass Menagerie” with Maureen Stapleton in 1976 and in “Mixed Couples” in 1981 with Page and Julie Harris. Off Broadway he appeared in Sam Shepard’s “Seduced” in 1979.

The actor was also working very steadily in television, picking up an Emmy nomination in 1985 for his work in CBS telepic “The Atlanta Child Murders” and in 1994 for a guest role on “Chicago Hope.” But his six-year stint on HBO’s highly successful “The Larry Sanders Show” — he played Larry’s producer Artie — nevertheless marked a significant career resurgence for Torn, one hurt, at least for a time, by Hopper’s 1994 utterance on “The Tonight Show.” Torn was Emmy nominated six times for “Larry Sanders,” winning in 1996.

On Broadway, he returned to O’Neill in 1993, starring with Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson in “Anna Christie,” and starred in Horton Foote’s “The Young Man From Atlanta” in 1997.

On the bigscreen Torn had broad roles in the comedies “Canadian Bacon” and “Down Periscope” — and a supporting role in the hugely successful “Men in Black” sci-fi comedy film franchise starting with the first entry in 1997 — but was still starring occasionally in very small-budget indie films with low profiles, such as “Where the River Flows North” in 1993.

In 2004 Torn shined in the Gene Hackman-Ray Richmond presidential comedy “Welcome to Mooseport.” Roger Ebert said: “Rip Torn plays the Karl Rove role. What a pleasure Torn is. Like Christopher Walken and Steve Buscemi, he makes us smile just by appearing on the screen.”

The actor also won praise for his role as an egomaniacal Memphis record producer in 2005’s “Forty Shades of Blue,” an award winner at Sundance, and many considered him the best thing in Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” (2006), in which he played a delightfully salacious Louis XV.

And on TV he recurred on NBC comedy “30 Rock” as the fictional CEO of General Electric, picking up an Emmy nomination in 2008.

Elmore Rual Torn Jr. was born in Temple in the Texas hill country. His father was an agricultural economist, and Torn attended Texas A&M and the U. of Texas, studying animal husbandry before turning to acting, training under actor, director and scholar B. Iden Payne.

Successful onstage, in films and on television, the actor nevertheless carried a sense of persecution. In a 2006 profile of Torn, the New York Times Magazine said, “Rather than see himself, at 75, as a triumphant monarch of the trade, Torn fancies himself a besieged general, the profession itself a bloody battle.”

His tendency toward erratic behavior manifested again even amid his late-career success: He tangled with law enforcement repeatedly over drunken automobile collisions and was arrested in 2010 after breaking into a closed bank while carrying a weapon.

Torn’s son and daughter by Geraldine Page, Tony and Angelica, are actor and directors, and Torn produced their helming efforts “The Convention” (2006) and “Lucky Days” (2008), also appearing in the latter. However, Angelica changed her last name from Torn to Page in 2011 when she grew estranged from her father.

In addition to Geraldine Page, to whom he was married until her death in 1987, Torn was earlier married to actress Ann Wedgeworth. In addition to Tony and Angelica, he is survived by his third wife, actress Amy Wright, and four other children: Danae, an occasional actress, Claire, Jonathan and Katie.

UltimateMarvel wrote:lol Broke into a bank with a loaded gun, that's crazy. I only knew him from MIB. RIP

Cameron Boyce, kid from Disney channel also died. He was only 20, so sad. RIP

joey con carne wrote:Rutger Hauer passed away.

Peter Fonda, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his work in the groundbreaking Easy Rider, which he co-wrote, produced, and co-starred in, has died.

The son of Hollywood legend Henry Fonda, brother of actress Jane Fonda, and father of actress Bridget Fonda, his death was confirmed by his publicist.

“It is with deep sorrow that we share the news that Peter Fonda has passed away. Fonda, 79 years old, passed away peacefully on Friday morning, August 16th at 11:05am at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by family. The official cause of death was respiratory failure due to lung cancer.

“In one of the saddest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our hearts.  As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy.

And, while we mourn the loss of this sweet and gracious man, we also wish for all to celebrate his indomitable spirit and love of life.

In honor of Peter, please raise a glass to freedom. From his Family.”

Fonda’s death comes just past the 50th anniversary of the release of Easy Rider, which debuted on July 14, 1969. The film will be celebrated with a screening and concert set for Sept. 20 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. The film, which starred Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson, will be shown in sync with a live performance of its soundtrack. Expected to appear are Steppenwolf’s John Kay, who will perform Born To Be Wild, and Roger McGuinn, Others will appear under the music direction of T Bone Burnett.

Fonda was also an Oscar nominee for Best Actor in his role as a Vietnam veteran turned beekeeper in Ulee’s Gold. He also won a Golden Globe in 2000 for The Passion of Ayn Rand.

Easy Rider is the story of two motorcyclists who head to Mardi Gras after a big drug score. Along the way, they discover an America that was in flux, as two generations clashed over manners, morals and direction at the height of a cultural revolution. Along the way, “Captain America’ Fonda and Hopper enlist Nicholson.

The low-budget independent film was a monster hit for distributor Columbia Pictures, produced for about $384,000.

Fonda was born in New York City on Feb. 23, 1939, the son of Henry and Frances Fonda. He spent time in boarding schools on the east coast and had a troubled relationship with his famous father, Henry, with whom he rarely lived.

His show business career started on Broadway with a role as an Army private in Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole. He received the Daniel Blum and the New York Drama Critics Award as the most promising young actor of 1961.

His film bow came in Tammy and the Doctor, a 1963 film with Sandra Dee. He also tipped his future iconic role in Easy Rider with Roger Corman’s The Wild Angels, a 1966 film in which he played biker Heavenly Blue. He followed with another Corman film, The Trip, a salute to LSD that was written by Nicholson and also featured Hopper. That meet-up led to Easy Rider.

Survivors include wife Margaret DeVogelaere, daughter Bridget Fonda, and a son, Justin. No memorial plans have been announced.

joey con carne wrote:Just found out John Witherspoon passed away yesterday. He was 77.

joey con carne wrote:I watched Friday, every Friday night after school for about a year. Still one of my favorite comedies.

It's principalities in this!

UltimateMarvel wrote:RIP John Witherspoon. I liked him on Friday too.

You've seen Friday???

WyldeMan wrote:You've seen Friday???

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:You've seen Friday???

Of course. Come on, it's not that old.

WyldeMan wrote:WHAT?!?!!? You've never seen a single other movie from the golden 90's I've mentioned ever, let alone movies from '95.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:WHAT?!?!!? You've never seen a single other movie from the golden 90's I've mentioned ever, let alone movies from '95.

Wow! I didn't know it was that old. When I saw it, it was in the early 2000s.

René Auberjonois, best known for his roles on Benson and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, died on Sunday of metastatic lung cancer, his son confirmed to the Associated Press. He was 79.

Auberjonois got his big break in 1970 when he was cast as Father John Mulcahy in the 1970 film MASH. He worked steadily over the next decade before he landed the series-regular role of Clayton Runnymede Endicott III on ABC’s Benson, which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy in 1984. Then, from 1993 to 1999, Auberjonois portrayed Odo, head of space-station security on the syndicated DS9.

In 2001, Auberjonois earned his second Emmy nomination, this time for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, for his turn as Judge Mantz on ABC’s The Practice. Three years later, he would join the cast of Practice spinoff Boston Legal, albeit as a different character; he played managing partner Paul Lewiston for the show’s first three seasons, then shifted to recurring status beginning with Season 4.

His most recent primetime gig came in 2016, when he appeared in four episodes of CBS’ Madam Secretary as Walter Nowack. Additional TV credits included episodes of Criminal Minds, The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Librarians, Masters of Sex, NCIS and Warehouse 13.

Fellow Star Trek vets William Shatner and George Takei shared their remembrances on Twitter:

   I have just heard about the death of my friend and fellow actor @reneauberjonois. To sum up his life in a tweet is nearly impossible. To Judith, Tessa & Remy I send you my love & strength. I will keep you in my thoughts and remember a wonderful friendship with René.

   — William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) December 8, 2019

   This is a terrible loss. Star Trek fans knew him as Odo from Deep Space Nine. We knew him as René. He was a wonderful, caring, and intelligent man. He shall be missed. When I look out to the stars, I shall think of you, friend. https://t.co/IE2gtivRcg

   — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) December 8, 2019

Danny Aiello, the New York actor and former Greyhound bus employee best known for his Oscar-nominated turn as Sal the pizza-joint owner in Do the Right Thing and for portraying Cher's lovelorn suitor in Moonstruck, has died. He was 86.

His rep, Tracey Miller, told The Hollywood Reporter that the actor died Thursday night after a brief illness.

Aiello, who didn't start acting until he was 35, often played loathsome types, as in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), where he starred as Mia Farrow's gruff, drunken husband. In a similar vein, he battled with Paul Newman in Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), portraying a crooked cop who tosses a kid off a roof.

In The Godfather: Part II (1974), Aiello played gangster Tony Rosato (his line, "Michael Corleone says hello," said as he garrots Frankie Pentangeli, was improvised), and he appeared as the neighborhood bookie who takes bets from Allen's character in The Front (1976).

A real charmer, Aiello also portrayed Lee Harvey Oswald killer Jack Ruby in Ruby (1992), starred for Paul Mazursky as a flailing Hollywood director in The Pickle (1993) and played it for laughs alongside Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd in The Cemetery Club (1993).

The movie he always said he was most fond of was the New York-set 29th Street (1991), in which Anthony LaPaglia played his son.

In a 2016 PBS interview with Rafael Pi Roman, Aiello noted that Spike Lee had been after him to star in Do the Right Thing (1989) for some time. "You got me making pizzas, flipping them in the air, that's a very ginzo thing," he told the writer-director.

"I'm not happy doing that, so I turned it down. But he never stopped. He kept coming to places where I was, seeing me in a restaurant, taking me to a ballgame, taking me to a Knick game.

"I [finally] said to him, 'If you give me an opportunity to add something to this character … I know this character, I may know him better than you." He said Lee listened to his recommendations and allowed Aiello to supply bits of dialogue, like when Sal yells at the African American kids in his pizza place and says, "They grew up on my food."

Aiello, who never took an acting class, was considered the favorite in the supporting actor race entering the Oscar telecast, but he lost out to Denzel Washington of Glory. Still, the experience made him feel for the first time that he "belonged" as an actor.

Earlier, Aiello had refused to audition for director Norman Jewison but still got the part of Mr. Johnny Cammareri, he with the itchy head, in Moonstruck (1987). It marked one of the few times he didn't play the tough guy.

One of six kids, Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. was born in New York City on June 20, 1933. He was raised on the West Side of Manhattan and then in the South Bronx by his legally blind mother, Frances.

His father was absent more times than he was there — ''It seems he would come home once a year and my mother would have another child,'' he told The New York Times in 1990 — and his family needed welfare checks to make ends meet.

Aiello suffered from eczema as a child and wore gloves in school and to bed so he wouldn't bleed from scratching. Once he got arrested for stealing a chocolate bar from Woolworth's and was taken to the 41st Precinct police station (that would be Fort Apache). At 17, he left James Monroe High School to enlist in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Germany.

After the service, Aiello landed a job in 1957 as a package handler with Greyhound, then became the public-address announcer at the bus terminal on 50th Street in Manhattan. (When ABC's Naked City came there for an episode in 1963, actor Frank Gorshin told Aiello to bump into him so he would show up on TV.)

He eventually ran for president of Local 1202 of the Amalgamated Transit Union and won, but he was fired after a wildcat strike by employees.

Aiello went to work for Budd Friedman as a bouncer and an occasional emcee at the Improv, where he met a neophyte writer, Louis La Russo II, who asked him to be in a play he had just written. "I said, 'I'm not an actor,'" Aiello recalled. "Yes, you are," La Russo replied, "you just don't know it yet."

Aiello played Biggie, a pop singer from Hoboken, New Jersey, in La Russo's Lampost Reunion, and he and it went from converted churches to Broadway in 1975, when it earned a Tony nomination for best play and the actor a Theatre World award. He then starred in the next two La Russo efforts, 1976's Wheelbarrow Closers and 1979's Knockout (as a boxer); both played on Broadway as well.

Aiello had made his film debut as the ballplayer nicknamed Horse in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) — he said he taught co-star Robert De Niro a thing or two about how to throw a baseball — and The Godfather sequel marked only his second appearance on the big screen.

He took a crack at starring in a TV series, playing a cop-turned-private eye, but CBS' Dellaventura lasted just 14 episodes in 1997-98.

Aiello made up for his late start in the profession with a slew of movies, including Fingers (1978), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Protector (1985), Key Exchange (1985), The Stuff (1985), Hudson Hawk (1991), Allen's Radio Days (1987), The Pick-Up Artist (1987), Harlem Nights (1989), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Luc Besson's Leon: The Professional (1994), City Hall (1996), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), Prince of Central Park (2000) and Lucky Number Slevin (2006).

On the set of Robert Altman's Ready to Wear (1994), Aiello said "Go fuck yourself" to Lauren Bacall after she told him to shut up while he was practicing his lines. And he could never figure out why Martin Scorsese never cast him. "It hurts me that he didn't paint me on one of his canvases," he said in a 2017 interview. I'm the only Italian American in the country that hasn't been in his pictures."

Aiello sang "Fly Me to the Moon" in Lasse Hallstrom's Once Around (1991), and he wound up releasing a handful of jazz albums, including 2004's I Just Wanted to Hear the Words, which made it to No. 9 on the Billboard jazz chart. He also played Madonna's dad in the 1986 music video for "Papa Don't Preach," directed by James Foley.

His memoir, I Only Know Who I Am When I Am Somebody Else, was published in 2014.

Aiello was married to his wife, Sandy, for more than 60 years. The couple had four children: sons Rick, Danny III and Jaime and daughter Stacy.

Danny III, a stuntman who doubled for his dad in Do the Right Thing and a stunt coordinator on FX's Rescue Me, died in 2010 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 53.

In a 2011 interview with Backstage, Aiello said acting was "more important than ever" after his son's death. "It's not only what I do to earn a living, but it's a distraction that takes me away from things that trouble me terribly, like the loss of my son," he said. "I suppose I could say acting is medicinal. It gives me a reason to keep living. I can't wait to get up because I'm going to act."

Survivors also include nephew Michael Kay, a former newspaperman and now play-by-play man for the New York Yankees. (Aiello said he "pulled some strings" to help Kay get a job with the New York Post years ago.)

joey con carne wrote:It appears Kirk Douglas has passed away at 103 years old.

Tyger wrote:103?! Geez

Veteran actor and comedian Orson Bean has died after he was reportedly struck by two vehicles in Venice, California. According to LAPD Capt. Brian Wendling, a pedestrian attempting to cross the street had been "clipped" by a passing car, knocking him down on the road. Although witnesses tried to warn the driver of another oncoming vehicle to slow down, the second car struck Bean, afflicting him with fatal injuries. Officers did not identify the pedestrian by name, but a friend of Bean's, who was present when the accident happened, confirmed that Bean was the victim of the accident. Bean's wife was also reported by witnesses to be at the scene.

A Burlington, Vermont native, Bean was born as Dallas Frederick Burrows on July 22, 1928. After serving in the U.S. Army as a young man, Bean sought to entertain and began working as a stage magician and stand-up comedian. During this time, he began introducing himself on stage with unusual, made-up names, one night joking that his name was "Orson Bean." Because the memorable name drew lots of laughter from the crowd, it stuck with the comedian, and he would then refer to himself as Orson Bean for the rest of his career.

By the mid '50s, Bean was working as an actor and performer in television and movies, launching a career with dozens upon dozens of appearances on the big and small screens. One of his most memorable early roles includes playing the title character in the episode "Mr. Bevis" of the classic sci-fi anthology series The Twilight Zone. He also provided the voice of Bilbo Baggins in the animated version of The Hobbit from 1977, along with its 1980 sequel The Return of the King. Certainly, one of his most famous television roles came in the '90s when he starred as Loren Bray on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Another one of Bean's most popular roles came in 1999 when he appeared in the Spike Jonze movie Being John Malkovich as Dr. Lester. For his performance, Bean was nominated with his fellow cast members for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture at the 2000 Screen Actors Guild Awards. In more recent years, Bean's work included another recurring role in the TV series Desperate Housewives as Roy Bender. Up until the end, Bean continued to work as an actor, most recently appearing in the newest season of the Netflix series Grace and Frankie.

Bean entertained on television frequently as himself as well. He appeared on The Tonight Show a whopping 128 times and was a particular favorite comedian of former host Johnny Carson. Bean would also appear on a variety of game shows from the '60s through the '80s, most notably on the popular game show To Tell the Truth where he served as a long-time panelist. He was also often seen on talk shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Mike Douglas Show.

Bean's survivors include his wife, actress Alley Mills, with whom he'd been married to for 27 years. He also had four children - Michele, Max, Susannah, and Ezekiel - from his previous marriages to Jacqueline de Sibour and Carolyn Maxwell. We offer our condolences to Bean's family at this difficult time. A legend of the screen and the stage, Bean was a bona fide entertainer in every sense and he is very loved and missed. RIP. This news comes to us from ABC.

Kevin Conway, a veteran actor known for his work in Gettysburg, Thirteen Days and Invincible, among others, died Wednesday of a heart attack, his publicist told Deadline. He was 77.

New York City-born Conway worked as an IBM sales analyst before becoming an actor at age 24. He went on to a decades-long career with dozens of credits in film, television and on the stage. His first major screen role was playing Roland Weary in the 1972 film Slaughterhouse Five, based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel. He went on to play Crum Petree, the insane mailman in the 1988 film Funny Farm; Frank Papale in the 2006 Disney football drama Invincible; and General Curtis LeMay in the 2000 historical drama Thirteen Days. He also played the fictional Sgt. Buster Kilrain in Ron Maxwell’s 1993 epic Gettysburg (see photo above) and its 2003 follow-up Gods and Generals.

His television work included playing Roger Chillingworth in a 1979 TV production of The Scarlet Letter, a role later played by Robert Duvall in 1995’s The Scarlet Letter. Conway also had a memorable guest-starring role on NBC’s Homicide: Life on the Street. In the 1995 episode titled “Heartbeat,” he played Joseph Cardero, the prime suspect in a cold-case murder who is obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. Cardero ultimately meets his end in the same manner his victim did – and with a chilling nod to Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart.

Conway’s stage credits include a 1974 Drama Desk-winning Off Broadway performance in When You Comin’ Back, Red Ryder? and a 1970 Broadway debut in the play Indians starring Stacy Keach and Raul Julia. In 1975 he played George opposite James Earl Jones’ Lennie in Of Mice and Men, and in 1979 starred opposite Philip Anglim in the acclaimed The Elephant Man. His last Broadway credit was 2002’s Dinner at Eight opposite Joanne Camp, John Dossett, Marian Seldes and Christine Ebersole.

As a director, Conway helmed the 1987 independent film The Sun and the Moon.

His numerous other TV credits include the Control Voice for The Outer Limits revival series from 1995-2002. He guest-starred on Star Trek: The Next Generation as the clone of the legendary Klingon figure Kahless, as well as on The Good Wife, JAG, Law & Order, In the Heat of the Night and The Black Donnellys. Conway also recurred on HBO’s prison drama Oz as Seamus O’Reilly, the abusive father of Irish gang inmates Ryan and Cyril O’Reilly.

Max von Sydow, known to TV audiences as Game of Thrones‘ enigmatic Three-Eyed Raven, died Sunday. He was 90.

“It’s with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max von Sydow on March 8, 2020,” the actor’s wife, Catherine von Sydow, confirmed in a statement. A cause of death has not yet been revealed.

In addition to his three Thrones episodes in Season 6 of the HBO drama, von Sydow’s TV work included The Tudors, where he appeared as Cardinal Von Waldburg. He also lent his voice to an episode of The Simpsons and co-starred in multiple miniseries (both in the United States and Sweden, where he was born).

The actor also had a substantial career in film, earning Oscar nominations for the foreign-language film Pelle the Conqueror in 1989 and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close in 2012. He worked closely with the late director Ingmar Bergman, appearing in 11 of Bergman’s films (including the 1957 fantasy drama The Seventh Seal).

von Sydow’s film credits also included The Exorcist (as Father Merrin), Flash Gordon (as the Emperor Ming), Conan the Barbarian and Dune, to name a few. More recently, he portrayed Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I know him from GOT, don't remember him at all in Star Wars. R.I.P.

Irrfan Khan, the wide-eyed actor who enjoyed art house acclaim in his native India and crossover-success with major Hollywood roles including “Life of Pi,” “Jurassic World” and “Inferno,” died on Wednesday. He was 53.

Khan was previously diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour in 2018 and underwent extensive treatment in London. He recovered well enough to shoot what would turn out to be his last film “Angrezi Medium,” the release of which was abruptly cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.

On Tuesday, he was admitted into the intensive care unit of Mumbai’s Kokilaben hospital with a colon infection.

After a brief stint in television, Khan made his film debut with a cameo in 1988 with Mira Nair’s Oscar-nominated “Salaam Bombay.” He returned to Indian television for the next decade. He shot to global prominence playing the lead in Asif Kapadia’s BAFTA winner “The Warrior” in 2001.

His major breakthrough in Indian cinema was in 2004 where he played Macbeth in Vishal Bharadwaj’s “Maqbool” and the antagonist in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s “Haasil.” In 2011, his turn as a soldier-turned-bandit in Dhulia’s “Paan Singh Tomar” earned him India’s National Award for best actor.

Internationally, Khan’s most visible performances include “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Life of Pi,” “The Lunchbox,” “The Namesake,” “Jurassic World,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Inferno.” He starred in 2017 film “The Song of Scorpions,” a Variety award nominee at the Locarno Festival.

Khan’s mother passed away in Jaipur a few days ago and he had to witness the funeral remotely via video link from Mumbai due to the ongoing coronavirus lockdown in India.

Filmmaker Karan Johar tweeted: “Thank you for those indelible movie memories….thank you for raising the bar as an artist …thank you for enriching our cinema….we will miss you terribly Irrfan but will always always be immensely grateful for your presence in our lives…..our cinema….we salute you.”

“An incredible talent … a gracious colleague, a prolific contributor to the World of Cinema, left us too soon, creating a huge vacuum,” tweeted veteran Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan.

joey con carne wrote:Same here, UM. I've seen him before. Sadly, I'm not sure I could have named any of the films he's been in. Reading that bit about his mother passing away just a few days ago and him not being able to attend got me. How awful that must be.

joey con carne wrote:Just read Jerry Stiller passed away today.

Ben Stiller said it was due to natural causes.

Ian Holm, Lord of the Rings and Alien Actor, Dead at 88

Ian Holm, the classically trained Shakespearean actor best known to film audiences for his performances in films including the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies, “Chariots of Fire” and “Alien,” has died. He was 88.

A rep for the actor has said Holm died in hospital on Friday morning. The actor had been battling Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years. However, as recently as January, Holm appeared in person to collect the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Icon Award in London.

Holm, who was celebrated for interpretations of most of the Shakespeare canon, including a towering “King Lear,” also excelled onstage in the original production of Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming,” which he also brought to Broadway. He began working in films only midway through his career, debuting with an adaptation of his stage performance in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 1968.

In later years, however, he worked increasingly in movies and more selectively onstage, appearing in high-profile films such as “Alien,” “The Fifth Element,” “Lord of the Rings” pics “The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Return of the King” and “Hobbit” movies “An Unexpected Journey” and “The Battle of the Five Armies.”

But his finest work was contained in independently made productions like Oscar best picture winner “Chariots of Fire,” which brought him a nomination as best supporting actor in 1982; “The Madness of King George”; “Joe Gould’s Secret”; “Big Night”; and “The Sweet Hereafter.”

He also worked regularly on British television series such as “The Borrowers,” “Bells,” “Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill,” “We the Accused” and “Game Set and Match.”

Holm was remarkably versatile and, despite his short stature, rarely limited in his selection of roles. He was very much an actor’s actor, too chameleon-like to have a strong star impact. In 1998, he received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to drama.

Holm had been working as an actor for decades when he first achieved mainstream notice for his work as an android in 1979’s “Alien” and as the Olympic trainer Sam Mussabini in 1981’s “Chariots of Fire.”

Over the next decade the roles became larger and more distinctive, including Napoleon in “Time Bandits,” Polonius in Zeffirelli’s “Hamlet” alongside Mel Gibson, Captain Fluellen in Kenneth Branagh’s “Henry V,” as well as turns in “Dreamchild,” “Brazil,” “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” “Wetherby,” “Dance With a Stranger” and Woody Allen’s “Another Woman.”

During the ’90s he had meaty starring roles in Steven Soderbergh’s “Kafka” and David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch” as well as in Nicholas Hytner’s “The Madness of King George,” Branagh’s “Frankenstein” and “The Fifth Element.”

Holm turned in several outstanding performances in top independent movies including Stanley Tucci’s “Big Night” and “Joe Gould’s Secret” and, especially, in Atom Egoyan’s “The Sweet Hereafter,” where his performance as the pained lawyer futilely seeking redress in the wake of a Canadian town’s tragedy was “bottomless with its subtlety,” Roger Ebert said.

He worked for Cronenberg again but was wasted in “eXistenZ.”

The actor, who cut his teeth in the theater, still did stagework occasionally. Holm starred as Astrov in “Uncle Vanya” in 1979 and as King Lear in 1997. The latter brought him an Olivier award as best actor, and he repeated both performances on television, winning an Emmy for “Lear” in 1999. In 1993, he starred in a production of Pinter’s “Moonlight” onstage with wife Penelope Wilton.

He returned to the role of Napoleon in 2001 film “The Emperor’s Clothes.” (He had first played Bonaparte in the 1972 TV series “Napoleon and Me,” then comically in “Time Bandits.”) In a generally negative review of the film, the New York Times said, “In a sly, deadpan performance, Mr. Holm does his best to realize the movie’s gentle comic vision.”

In his 70s Holm continued to show up in high-profile films — none more high profile than the “Lord of the Rings” movies, in which he played Bilbo Baggins. He was a sadistic doctor in the Hughes brothers’ “From Hell,” with Johnny Depp, and played meteorologists in Roland Emmerich’s disaster epic “The Day After Tomorrow” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator.”

But he was also one of the starring voices in the stylish animated film noir sci-fier “Renaissance” and the delightful animated feature “Ratatouille.” Holm made some other interesting choices in the 2000s, appearing in the indie comedy “Strangers With Candy”; as an outrageous psychoanalyst in “The Treatment”; and as David Ben Gurion, the first president of Israel, in Elie Chouraqui’s “O Jerusalem.”

He returned to the role of Bilbo Baggins for two “Hobbit” films, “An Unexpected Journey” and “The Battle of the Five Armies.”

Ian Holm Cuthbert was born in Goodmayes, England, and entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1950, leaving in 1953 to do his military service.

The following year he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-on-Avon and made his debut as a spear carrier in “Othello.” Holm made his West End debut in 1956’s “Love Affair” and toured Europe with Laurence Olivier in “Titus Andronicus,” rejoining the RSC in 1957 and breaking out in 1959 with his celebrated Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and as the Fool in “King Lear.” He remained with the RSC until 1967, appearing in starring roles in “The Tempest” (as Ariel), “Richard III,” “Henry V” and “Henry IV, Part 1” and “Part 2.”

In 1965 he appeared to great acclaim as Lenny in the original production of Pinter’s “The Homecoming”; he won a Tony when he repeated the role on Broadway in 1967 and played the role again in Pinter’s 1973 big-screen adaptation.

In 1968 he made his film debut in “The Bofors Gun,” a British film that brought him a BAFTA Award for supporting actor. Thereafter, he appeared more regularly in movies and on television than onstage.

Over the next few years, he had supporting roles in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Fixer,” “Oh! What a Lovely War,” “Nicholas and Alexandra” and as King John in “Robin and Marian.” Other assignments included “Young Winston,” “Juggernaut,” “Shout at the Devil” and, for television, “Les Miserables,” “The Man in the Iron Mask,” “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Jesus of Nazareth.” For the American miniseries “Holocaust” and “Inside the Third Reich,” he played Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels, respectively.

He won a second Emmy in 2001 for his roguish work opposite Judi Dench in HBO telepic “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells.” With wife Wilton he appeared in “The Borrowers” and “The Return of the Borrowers” for Brit TV, and he was one of an all-star cast of voices that contributed to the live-action version of “Animal Farm” that aired on TNT in the U.S.

Holm also did a considerable amount of voiceover and narration work. He narrated the documentaries “Stalin,” “Elizabeth R: A Year in the Life of the Queen” and “Hiroshima: The Decision to Drop the Bomb”; “The Seas of Zanzibar” and “Skin Deep,” both for the Discovery Channel; and “Holocaust on Trial” for PBS.

Holm was married four times, first to Lynn Mary Shaw. His second wife was film still photographer Sophie Baker. Their marriage ended in 1986. Holm married Wilton in 1991, and divorced in 2001.

He is survived by his fourth wife, artist Sophie de Stempel, whom he married in 2003; three daughters, Jessica, Sarah-Jane, who did some film acting, and Melissa, a casting director; and two sons, Barnaby, who acted as a child, and Harry, a filmmaker who makes music videos.

Kelly Preston Dies of Breast Cancer at 57: 'She Was a Bright, Beautiful and Loving Soul'

Kelly Preston has died. She was 57.

"On the morning of July 12, 2020, Kelly Preston, adored wife and mother, passed away following a two-year battle with breast cancer," a family representative tells PEOPLE exclusively.

"Choosing to keep her fight private, she had been undergoing medical treatment for some time, supported by her closest family and friends," the family rep says. "She was a bright, beautiful and loving soul who cared deeply about others and who brought life to everything she touched. Her family asks for your understanding of their need for privacy at this time."

Preston is survived by her husband John Travolta and their children: daughter Ella, 20, and 9-year-old son Benjamin. Son Jett died at age 16 in January 2009.

Preston, who was born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith on October 13, 1962, in Honolulu, Hawaii, studied acting at the University of Southern California and launched her career in 1985 with her first major movie role in Mischief after several minor roles in television shows, including For Love and Honor.

In the next few years, Preston starred in films such as SpaceCamp (1986), Twins (1988), Jerry Maguire (1996) and For Love of the Game (1999). Preston's final film role was in the 2018 film Gotti in which she played Victoria Gotti, the wife of Mafia boss John Gotti, who was portrayed on screen by Travolta.

Along with her career, Preston treasured her decades-long romance with husband Travolta.

On New Year's Eve 1991, Travolta proposed at the Palace Hotel restaurant in Gstaad, Switzerland, with a six-carat yellow-and-white diamond ring. When they got married on Sept. 5, 1991, Preston was two months pregnant with their son Jett. (The couple later got married for a second time on U.S. soil in Daytona Beach, Florida.)

Last September, Travolta and Preston celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary. "Happy Anniversary to my wonderful wife @therealkellypreston," the Grease actor wrote on Instagram at the time.

Preston wrote a heartfelt note to her husband, sharing: "To my dearest Johnny, the most wonderful man I know. You have given me hope when I have felt lost, loved me patiently and unconditionally… made me laugh harder than any other human being possible… shared the most beautiful highs and at times low. You're a dream Daddio and make life so much fun!! I trust my love with you implicitly… with you I know I will always be okay no matter what happens… I love you forever and completely. Happy 28th Anniversary @johntravolta."

In 2018, Preston told PEOPLE about one of the couple's last romantic moments. "I think it's when Johnny just whisks me away, and we'll jump on the airplane and go out to dinner, and I don't know where we're going. It's good to be married to a pilot!" she said.

And the mother of three adored her children. "I've wanted babies since I was 9," Preston told InStyle in 2001.

Their son Jett was born in April 1992 and daughter Ella was born in April 2000. Following Jett's tragic death, son Ben was born in November 2010 after Preston and Travolta tried for three years to conceive.

Preston's final Instagram post was a family selfie in celebration of Father's Day in June. "Happy Father’s Day to the best one I know, we love you," she captioned the photo which starred their son Ben and daughter Ella. In addition, Preston posted a black-and-white portrait of Travolta and Jett.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I know man, I didn't know she was sick either. I always liked Kelly and I thought she was very beautiful, very sad. May she rest in peace.

joey con carne wrote:Oh, wow, Kelly Preston.  She was so beautiful. I recall her from What A Girl Wants.

joey con carne wrote:Oh, wow, Kelly Preston.  She was so beautiful. I recall her from What A Girl Wants.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

joey con carne wrote:Oh, wow, Kelly Preston.  She was so beautiful. I recall her from What A Girl Wants.

That and Jack Frost for me.