96 thoughts on “2022 UMR In Memoriam”

1. Hello Bruce,
   Le cinema Français est en deuil….she passed away on the first december

   Mylene Demongeot, a french actress very famous at the end of the fifties, at top during the sixties
   She was in a film with Jean Seberg wich is «  Bonjour Tristesse «  From Francois Sagan, and she was Milady in the three Musketeers and she was very successful in Fantomas with
   Jean marais and Louis de Funès during three films.
   She was famous in Europe at that time like Brigitte Bardot , BB.
   At the end of her carrière she was in Camping , three films too, and great succès in France and very well known with the new generations.…
   And most of all she was a vey nice person.
   RIP
   Bye bye all of you
   Pierre

   Reply

   1. Hey Pierre…great to hear from you. That is sad news about Mylene Demongeot. I agree with your comment 100%. Rest in Peace Mylene Demongeot.

      Reply

2. Child actor Mickey Kuhn has died at the age of 90. He was the last surviving cast member of Gone With the Wind where he was the first child of Olivia De Haviland and Leslie Howard. He was also in many other films like Red River and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. He would often play the main characters when they were a child. Rest in peace

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   1. Thanks for the heads up Flora. Rest in Peace Mickey Kuhn.

      Reply

3. Leslie Phillips. # 541 on the 2022 Oracle of Bacon list has passed at 98. Maybe not well known here in America, but Amazon U.K. sells some box sets of his films. The obituaries online do not do him justice.

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   1. Hey Dan….son #3 actually sent me a text on his passing…I was sad to hear of his passing, but shocked that it reached my son’s radar. RIP Mr. Phillips.

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   2. I checked to see how many Leslie Phillips films I have seen. I have seen 9.

      Favourite Leslie Phillips films:

      The Longest Day
      Les Girls
      Terror on a Train
      The Thief of Bagdad

      Other Leslie Phillips Films I Have Seen:

      Out of Africa
      The Angey Hills
      Just My Luck
      The Fake
      The Smallest Show on Earth

      Reply

      1. I’m using the 2021 rankings at the moment whilst I put in the 2022 rankings. Leslie was # 469 in 2021 and has dropped to # 541 on the 2022 edition. Leslie is also the # 218 most connected actor of the 1950’s.

         These are the actors on the 2021 list that Leslie appeared with.

         2 MICHAEL CAINE Is Anybody There? (2008)
         7 JOHN HURT Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         7 JOHN HURT King Ralph (1991)
         7 JOHN HURT Scandal (1989)
         11 ANTHONY HOPKINS August (1996)
         19 JOHN GIELGUD The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)
         20 SEAN CONNERY The Longest Day (1962)
         29 ROD STEIGER The Longest Day (1962)
         35 PETER O’TOOLE King Ralph (1991)
         35 PETER O’TOOLE Venus (2006/I)
         39 DONALD PLEASENCE Value for Money (1955)
         46 CHRISTIAN BALE Empire of the Sun (1987)
         54 BRUCE WILLIS The Jackal (1997)
         55 VANESSA REDGRAVE Venus (2006/I)
         56 RODDY MCDOWELL The Longest Day (1962)
         58 JOHN MALKOVICH Empire of the Sun (1987)
         59 JOHN CLEESE Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         59 JOHN CLEESE Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         64 NED BEATTY Thunderpants (2002)
         69 JOHN MILLS I Was Monty’s Double (1958)
         74 OMAR SHARIFF Mountains of the Moon (1990)
         84 MICHAEL HORDERN Some Will, Some Won’t (1970)
         84 MICHAEL HORDERN Train of Events (1949)
         84 MICHAEL HORDERN You Know What Sailors Are (1954)
         97 ROBERT MITCHUM The Angry Hills (1959)
         97 ROBERT MITCHUM The Longest Day (1962)
         109 RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH Brothers in Law (1957)
         129 ROBERT WAGNER The Longest Day (1962)
         131 JOHN GOODMAN King Ralph (1991)
         140 HENRY FONDA The Longest Day (1962)
         142 DENHOLM ELLIOTT Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952)
         142 DENHOLM ELLIOTT Maroc 7 (1967)
         142 DENHOLM ELLIOTT You Must Be Joking! (1965)
         149 RICHARD HARRIS Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         149 RICHARD HARRIS Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         156 MERYL STREEP Out of Africa (1985)
         161 SHANE RIMMER Out of Africa (1985)
         164 GEORGE SEGAL The Longest Day (1962)
         176 ROBERT MORLEY Doctor in Trouble (1970)
         178 JON VOIGHT Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
         186 FRANK FINLAY The Longest Day (1962)
         192 CHRISTIAN SLATER Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)
         197 RICHARD GRIFFITHS Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         197 RICHARD GRIFFITHS Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         197 RICHARD GRIFFITHS King Ralph (1991)
         197 RICHARD GRIFFITHS Venus (2006/I)
         212 MAGGIE SMITH Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         212 MAGGIE SMITH Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         234 JULIE CHRISTIE Crooks Anonymous (1962)
         234 JULIE CHRISTIE The Fast Lady (1962)
         235 BURT KWOUK Carry on Columbus (1992)
         235 BURT KWOUK Empire of the Sun (1987)
         248 MICHAEL GOUGH Anna Karenina (1948)
         248 MICHAEL GOUGH Out of Africa (1985)
         252 JASON ISAACS Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         253 MARCELLO MASTROIANNI Ferdinando I. re di Napoli (1959)
         262 JOE PANTOLIANO Empire of the Sun (1987)
         264 RICHARD GERE The Jackal (1997)
         276 ANGELINA JOLIE Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
         279 RICHARD E. GRANT Color Me Kubrick (2005)
         279 RICHARD E. GRANT Mountains of the Moon (1990)
         289 JULIAN GLOVER Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         289 JULIAN GLOVER King Ralph (1991)
         304 PAUL GIAMATTI Thunderpants (2002)
         315 ROBERT REDFORD Out of Africa (1985)
         329 JACK BLACK The Jackal (1997)
         332 SIMON CALLOW THUNDERPANTS (2002)
         337 MIRANDA RICHARDSON Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)
         337 MIRANDA RICHARDSON Empire of the Sun (1987)
         363 ROBBIE COLTRANE Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         363 ROBBIE COLTRANE Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         373 IAN MCKELLEN SCANDAL (1989)
         379 BERNARD HILL MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990)
         381 ROSHAN SETH MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990)
         383 RICHARD BURTON The Longest Day (1962)
         385 MIRIAM MARGOLYES Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         387 TOBY JONES HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (2002)
         389 BEN STILLER EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987)
         397 PETER VAUGHAN Is Anybody There? (2008)
         397 PETER VAUGHAN Mountains of the Moon (1990)
         432 EDDIE ALBERT The Longest Day (1962)
         443 MEL FERRER The Longest Day (1962)
         445 FERDY MAYNE THE BIG MONEY (1956)
         445 FERDY MAYNE Value for Money (1955)
         445 FERDY MAYNE You Know What Sailors Are (1954)
         455 LLOYD BRIDGES The Limping Man (1953)
         482 GLENN FORD Time Bomb (1953)
         484 AKIM TAMIROFF You Know What Sailors Are (1954)
         509 TCHEKY KARYO Saving Grace (2000)
         510 JOHN WAYNE The Longest Day (1962)
         518 GRAHAM STARK A Weekend with Lulu (1961)
         518 GRAHAM STARK Doctor in Trouble (1970)
         518 GRAHAM STARK Inn for Trouble (1960)
         518 GRAHAM STARK Not Now Darling (1973)
         518 GRAHAM STARK The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971)
         518 GRAHAM STARK You Must Be Joking! (1965)
         533 RAY MILLAND High Flight (1957)
         536 STUART WHITMAN The Longest Day (1962)
         539 WOLFGANG PREISS The Longest Day (1962)
         545 BRITT EKLAND Scandal (1989)
         547 RHYS IFANS AUGUST (1996)
         548 LARRY MILLER Carry on Columbus (1992)
         554 PETER LAWFORD The Longest Day (1962)
         560 FREDDIE JONES Doctor in Trouble (1970)
         566 KEIRA KNIGHTLEY Thunderpants (2002)
         571 JOANNA LUMLEY DON’T JUST LIE THERE, SAY SOMETHING! (1974)
         579 CELIA IMRIE THUNDERPANTS (2002)
         582 CURT JURGENS The Longest Day (1962)
         587 ALEXANDER KNOX The Four Feathers (1939)
         587 ALEXANDER KNOX The Longest Day (1962)
         602 RICHARD JOHNSON Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
         614 ALLAN CUTHBERTSON THE FAST LADY (1962)
         635 MAURICE DENHAM Time Bomb (1953)
         656 WILFRID HYDE-WHITE Carry on Nurse (1959)
         656 WILFRID HYDE-WHITE Crooks Anonymous (1962)
         656 WILFRID HYDE-WHITE You Must Be Joking! (1965)
         664 DANIEL CRAIG Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
         667 ROBERT STEPHENS Empire of the Sun (1987)
         670 ERIC POHLMANN BEWARE OF CHILDREN (1960)
         687 MICHAEL MEDWIN Anna Karenina (1948)
         687 MICHAEL MEDWIN Carry on Nurse (1959)
         687 MICHAEL MEDWIN Crooks Anonymous (1962)
         687 MICHAEL MEDWIN The Longest Day (1962)
         704 GARRICK HAGON IS ANYBODY THERE? (2008)
         715 JEREON KRABBE SCANDAL (1989)
         717 STEPHEN FRY THUNDERPANTS (2002)
         723 GEOFFREY KEEN Roommates (1961)
         724 ROY KINNEAR Not Now, Comrade (1976)
         764 RALPH RICHARDSON Anna Karenina (1948)
         764 RALPH RICHARDSON Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952)
         764 RALPH RICHARDSON The Citadel (1938)
         764 RALPH RICHARDSON The Four Feathers (1939)
         781 ANNA MASSEY MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990)
         793 GERT FROBE The Longest Day (1962)
         808 DAVID HAYMAN THE JACKAL (1997)
         810 ROBERT RYAN The Longest Day (1962)
         823 WILLIAM HOOTKINS Color Me Kubrick (2005)
         827 KENNETH GRIFFITH BROTHERS IN LAW (1957)
         832 DELROY LINDO MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (1990)
         860 J. K. SIMMONS The Jackal (1997)
         870 SIDNEY POITIER The Jackal (1997)
         875 KENNETH BRANAGH HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS (2002)
         892 TERRY-THOMAS Brothers in Law (1957)
         892 TERRY-THOMAS Climbing High (1938)
         892 TERRY-THOMAS Spanish Fly (1976)
         892 TERRY-THOMAS You Must Be Joking! (1965)
         907 REX HARRISON The Citadel (1938)
         909 JAMES FAULKNER CARRY ON COLUMBUS (1992)
         909 JAMES FAULKNER COLOR ME KUBRICK (2005)
         938 MARTIN BENSON YOU KNOW WHAT SAILORS ARE (1954)
         974 ANTHONY QUAYLE Train of Events (1949)
         979 JOHN CRAWFORD The Longest Day (1962)
         980 MARIANNE STONE Brothers in Law (1957)
         980 MARIANNE STONE Carry on Nurse (1959)
         980 MARIANNE STONE Crooks Anonymous (1962)
         980 MARIANNE STONE Doctor in Love (1960)
         980 MARIANNE STONE Doctor in Trouble (1970)
         980 MARIANNE STONE The Fast Lady (1962)
         980 MARIANNE STONE The Man Who Liked Funerals (1959)
         980 MARIANNE STONE You Know What Sailors Are (1954)
         980 MARIANNE STONE You Must Be Joking! (1965)
         991 DIANE VENORA THE JACKAL (1997)

         Leslie appeared with 27 Oscar winners.

         ANGELINA JOLIE Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
         ANTHONY HOPKINS August (1996)
         CHRISTIAN BALE Empire of the Sun (1987)
         EDMOND O’BRIEN The Longest Day (1962)
         HENRY FONDA The Longest Day (1962)
         HUGH GRIFFITH The Galloping Major (1951)
         J. K. SIMMONS The Jackal (1997)
         JENNIFER JONES The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)
         JOHN GIELGUD The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957)
         JOHN MILLS I Was Monty’s Double (1958)
         JOHN WAYNE The Longest Day (1962)
         JON VOIGHT Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
         JULIE CHRISTIE Crooks Anonymous (1962)
         JULIE CHRISTIE The Fast Lady (1962)
         MAGGIE SMITH Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
         MAGGIE SMITH Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
         MARGARET RUTHERFORD Big Time Operators (1957)
         MERYL STREEP Out of Africa (1985)
         MICHAEL CAINE Is Anybody There? (2008)
         PETER FINCH Train of Events (1949)
         RAY MILLAND High Flight (1957)
         RED BUTTONS The Longest Day (1962)
         REX HARRISON The Citadel (1938)
         ROBERT DONAT The Citadel (1938)
         ROD STEIGER The Longest Day (1962)
         SEAN CONNERY The Longest Day (1962)
         SIDNEY POITIER The Jackal (1997)
         VANESSA REDGRAVE Venus (2006/I)
         VIVIEN LEIGH Anna Karenina (1948)

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4. Angela Lansbury, star of ‘Murder, She Wrote’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ has died at 96

   From USA Today,

   Angela Lansbury, award-winning star of films like “The Manchurian Candidate,” TV’s “Murder, She Wrote” and the Broadway musical “Sweeney Todd,” died Tuesday. She was 96.

   Lansbury was a force in the entertainment business for a career that spanned eight decades and garnered her an Oscar, five Tonys and 18 Emmy nominations, although she never won one for CBS’s “Murder.”

   “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement. She is survived by three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury. Peter Shaw, her husband of 53 years, died in 2003.

   Most actors would be happy to have just one of Lansbury’s three careers, let alone all of them.

   Aspiring stars need not panic. All they’ll they need to match her success is Lansbury’s talent, grace, class, craft, beauty, brains, dedication, perseverance and professionalism. So good luck with that.

   It’s right to grieve over what our culture has lost with Lansbury’s death. She was a great actor and a class act, and that combination does not come along every day. But we should also celebrate what she accomplished while she was alive, over a remarkable career that spanned eight decades.

   Angela Lansbury speaks during the PBS segment of the 2018 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 16, 2018.
   Lansbury became a movie star at 19, garnering an Oscar nomination in 1944 for her first film, “Gaslight,” and following that with nods for “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in 1946 and “Manchurian” in 1963 before finally being awarded an honorary Oscar in 2014 “for her extravagant achievements.” And so they were.

   The actress reflected on “Gaslight,” which she said was one of her favorite roles of her long career.

   “I was just young enough to be able to absorb so much from the actors I was working with,” Lansbury said. “I was only 17 when I started it. I became 18 on the set, and everybody gave me a cigarette. Those things you never forget.”

   In the ‘60s, when her film work became less satisfying, she reinvented herself as a Broadway musical star – moving from well-respected film actor to extravagantly praised stage icon in almost an instant. She won the Tony for best actress in a musical for “Mame,” “Dear World,” “Gypsy” and “Sweeney” before adding a late-in-life award for best featured actress in a play in 2009 for “Blithe Spirit.”

   That’s five performance Tonys, one less than the record, plus two more nominations for Lansbury, who also hosted the Tonys five times. And there’s not a single gift or “weak year” win among them: All those Tonys were for performances that are cherished by those who saw them as some of the best Broadway has ever offered.

   Were that not career enough, there’s the TV show she started when she was approaching 60: CBS’s “Murder, She Wrote,” one of the most popular and longest-running dramas in TV history. It never won her an Emmy, despite 12 straight nominations, but it gave her financial independence and made her a household name for the first time in her career. And not just a name — a beloved one, as everyone favorite, slightly nosy, electronic aunt.

   Angela Lansbury stars in 2001’s ‘Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man,’ the third television movie after the ‘Murder, She Wrote’ series.
   Has any actor had more, or a more diverse set, of great roles and iconic performances? With most stars, you can point to a particular play and movie and say “She’s playing against type in that one” — but what “type” could you choose for Lansbury? The snooty, dismissive maid in “Gaslight?” The manipulative, power-mad mother in “Manchurian”? The bon vivant bohemian in “Mame”? The happily murderous piemaker in “Sweeney”? The sweet but unrelenting crime-solver in “Murder”?

   This is an actor whose talents knew no bounds. And a woman who, when one door closed on her, pushed through another one.

   Of course, she might not have had to push had Hollywood made better use of her gifts. She had those great, Oscar-nominated roles, but far too many times on screen, she was cast as the “other” sister or in some variation of “the brittle-girl-who-doesn’t-get-the-guy.” Even in those roles, she could shine: If you haven’t seen her hilarious turn as the self-absorbed princess in “The Court Jester” or her nuanced portrayal of a bitter, unhappy wife in “The World of Henry Orient,” you must do so. Then throw in some of the more popular performances she gave later in life, like the dotty charlatan in “Death on a Nile” or the voice of Mrs. Potts in the 1991 animated “Beauty and the Beast.”

   Even TV did not treat her as well as it might have. “Murder” was a great gift, to her and to viewers, but no one would say it exactly taxed her talents. It’s a shame that, when she was at the height of her popularity, CBS did not let her re-create any of her great Broadway triumphs in a TV movie – but she did, at least, get to shine in such TV work as “The Blackwater Lightship,” “Little Gloria,” “Happy at Last,” and “Mrs. Santa Claus.”

   Still, it’s Broadway that really made the best use of Lansbury, in a string of legendary star-turns capped, perhaps, by her work in “Sweeney.” If that was her peak, we can be thankful, because it’s the only one of her stage performances that was preserved on film, as a TV special.

   Lansbury continued working into her 90s, playing the rich Aunt March in the 2017 PBS adaptation of “Little Women” and making a welcome cameo in 2018’s “Marry Poppins” sequel, “Mary Poppins Returns.” Her unnamed balloon lady character barely graced the screen, but her presence instantly elevated the Disney musical.

   In January 2019 she offered words of wisdom to a room of hopefuls at the annual AFI Awards, reflecting on her long career in Hollywood. “I took my first steps in the business on Stage 25 at the MGM lot,” she recalled. “I remember the first day I arrived there … and I never felt so alone in my life.”

   Speaking to the likes of Bradley Cooper, Emily Blunt and Harry Winkler, she added: “As you leave here today and are invited to endure a seemingly endless parade of programs that label you a ‘winner’ or a ‘loser’ – I’ve been there, I’ve done that,” she said, to laughter. “Remember this room, when we are all together as one.”

   In all, Lansbury’s career is one to celebrate and remember. And how you remember her – whether as the Nazi-fighting witch in “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” or as the smiling, beautifully dressed grand dame hosting the Tonys – is up to you. Only one thing is certain: It will be hard not to miss her, and impossible to replace her.

   Odds are few actors would be foolish enough to try.

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   1. Hey Dan, thanks for the information on Angela Lansbury. I was surprised her last movie was in 2018….seems that Mary Poppins 2 was just a year or two ago. RIP.

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   2. Dan, thanks for sharing this. your wealth of experience has honed a keen eye for greatness.

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      1. To Bob Cox

         I f you’re referring to the Angela Lansbury piece, that’s from USA Today. They have a good writer.

         Reply

5. Bruce, we have lost another actor from the Golden age of Hollywood. Henry Silva of Ocean’s 11 and The Manchurian Candidate has died at 95. Rest in peace

   https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/henry-silva-oceans-11-and-the-manchurian-candidate-actor-dies-at-95/ar-AA11UYt9

   Reply

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