116 thoughts on “UMR’s In Memoriam – 2020”

1. Well he was in 16 films, usually playing himself.

   From Deadline via IMDB.

   Regis Philbin, one of daytime television’s longest-running hosts, has died at age 88. His death came Friday of natural causes, according to his family.

   “We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved Regis Philbin passed away last night of natural causes, one month shy of his 89th birthday,” according to a statement issued to People magazine by his family.

   “His family and friends are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him – for his warmth, his legendary sense of humor, and his singular ability to make every day into something worth talking about. We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss,” the family said.

   Philbin began his career as a TV host in San Diego, then became a writer and on-air sidekick on The Joey Bishop Show. He then served as
   See full article at Deadline »

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   1. Hey Dan….thanks for the headsup on Regis Philbin. Sad news. I imagine he was an important part of New York City. I grew to like him for his many appearances on David Letterman. Regis was the first guest after September 11th 2001. Rest in peace.

      FYI…John Saxon has passed away as well.

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2. (CNN) Actress Kelly Preston died after losing her battle with breast cancer, her husband John Travolta said in a post on Instagram Sunday. She was 57 years old.

   Preston had been battling breast cancer for two years, Travolta said, and “fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many. My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved ones who have been by her side. Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered.”

   In an exclusive with PEOPLE, a family representative said that Preston passed away on Sunday morning. “Choosing to keep her fight private, she had been undergoing medical treatment for some time, supported by her closest family and friends,” the representative told PEOPLE.
   The actress had not been photographed publicly at a major event since June 2018 when she walked the red carpet with her husband for the premiere of his film “Gotti” in which he portrayed the late mobster, John Gotti and she played his wife, Victoria Gotti.

   Born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu, Preston studied acting at the University of Southern California before landing some bit parts on television including “CHiPs” and “Roseanne.”
   That led to the role of playing Mary Lee on the short-lived television series “For Love and Honor.”
   But Hollywood took notice in 1988 when she starred as Marnie Mason, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character’s love interest in the comedy “Twins,” a film which also co-starred Danny DeVito.
   That same year she met Travolta during a screen test for the film “The Experts.”

   During a 2018 interview on “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” Preston talked of how she and Travolta eloped to Paris in 1991 after their wedding plans in New York City became unmanageable.
   “The wedding got so big and so crazy,” Preston said. “And I thought once the florist’s assistant got an assistant, I was done.”
   She had previously been married to actor Kevin Gage from 1985 to 1987 and had high profile romances with George Clooney and Charlie Sheen (to whom she was briefly engaged) before she wed Travolta.
   Preston also starred in 90’s classics like “Jerry Maguire” and “For Love of the Game.”
   In 1992 she and Travolta welcomed their first child, son Jett, who died in 2009 following a seizure, while the family vacationed in the Bahamas.

   Daughter Ella followed in 2000 and son Benjamin who was born in 2010.
   Preston told Health magazine she was was going to become a mom again at 48 and said she and Travolta had been trying off and on to conceive.
   “When I found out I was pregnant, I was floored,” People magazine reported her as telling Health. “I’d snuck out of bed and then came back and woke Johnny up in bed. We both started crying. It was wonderful.”
   She acted less in the years that followed Benjamin’s birth, most notably in a guest starring role on the TV series “CSI: Cyber” and the film “Gotti” with her husband.
   Preston and Travolta’s daughter, Ella Travolta, posted a tribute to her mother on Instagram. “I have never met anyone as courageous, strong, beautiful and loving as you. Anyone who is lucky enough to have known you or to have ever been in your presence will agree that you have a glow and a light that never ceases to shine and that makes anyone around you feel instantly happy. Thank you for being there for me no matter what. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your help and thank you for making this world a better place. You have made life so beautiful and I know you will continue to do so always. I love you so much mama.”
   John Travolta ended his post by saying, “I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal.

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3. RIP Ennio Morricone one of the all time great film composers.

   Bruce, there’s no comment box on your Morricone page.

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   1. Hey Steve….had lots of issues getting my act together on our Ennio tribute page….I loaded up the two videos of his music….and the music from My Name Is Nobody really got to me…..memories of seeing that movie with my dad came at me in a hurry…..especially the music. Good memories….but realizing the passing of time hit home. My dad has now been gone 9 years….which does not even seem possible. My youngest Emily, is 11, she does not even remember him. Anyway….the music got me somewhat emotional….my kids wanted to know what was wrong with me…lol.

      Anyway…his page has a comment box…and has 60 of his movies ranked. Rest in Peace Ennio Morricone.

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4. From CNN

   Ennio Morricone, the Oscar-winning film composer, has died at the age of 91, his lawyer told CNN Monday.
   He died at dawn in a Rome hospital after falling and breaking his leg, his lawyer, Giorgio Assumma, said.
   Morricone is best known internationally as the composer behind the instantly recognizable melodies from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
   The Italian composer was famous for the tension-filled scores of spaghetti Westerns, and won an Academy Award for his soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” in 2016, after five previous nominations and an Honorary Award in 2007 that recognized his lifetime’s achievement.

   Ennio Morricone: Five tracks you need to hear by the late, great film composer
   The Rome-born composer scored more than 500 films, and was a winner and nominee for numerous BAFTA awards and Golden Globes, as well as being the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
   Although arguably best known for creating music for Westerns, the composer also developed soundtracks for cinematic classics including “The Mission” and “Cinema Paradiso.”

   Morricone requested a private funeral, Assumma said.
   Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte paid tribute to the composer on Monday, writing on Twitter: “We will always remember, with infinite gratitude, the artistic genius of the Maestro #EnnioMorricone.”
   “It made us dream, move, reflect, writing memorable notes that will remain unforgettable in the history of music and cinema” he added.

   Ennio Morricone: Time for Oscars to settle composer score?
   Italian President Sergio Mattarella offered condolences to the family of the “distinguished” artist.
   “Both a refined and popular musician, he has left a deep mark in the history of music in the second part of the 20th century,” he said. “Through his soundtracks, he has greatly contributed in spreading and reinforcing Italy’s prestige around the world.”

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   1. Hey Dan….thanks for the headsup on the passing of Mr. Ennio Morricone. His music brings back lots of memories of my dad and watching some of Morricone’s most famous music. I watched the Clint trilogy and My Name Is Nobody with my dad many many times. For some reason my dad was not a fan of Once Upon A Time In The West. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is one of my Top 100 movies….I have 4 movies sitting on my DVD player to watch…The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is one of those 4. Now I am on a mission to find My Name is Nobody….to watch today. Rest in Peace Ennio Morricone.

      Reply

5. Doctor Who actor Earl Cameron dies at 102
   Earl Cameron was seen in many films late in his life, including The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn (2005); The Queen with Hellen Mirren (2006) and Inception (2010).
   hollywood Updated: Jul 05, 2020 06:54 IST

   Associated Press | Posted by Ruchi Kaushal
   Hindustan Times, New Delhi

   Earl Cameron dies at 102.

   Earl Cameron, who was one of the first Black actors to perform in mainstream British films and played supporting roles to enduring entertainment icons such as James Bond and the title character in Doctor Who before appearing in the U.N. thriller The Interpreter in his 80s, has died. He was 102.
   Cameron died Friday, according to The Royal Gazette, a newspaper in his native Bermuda. The British newspaper The Guardian, quoting the actor’s agent, said he died at home in Warwickshire, England.
   Cameron stumbled into acting as a way to earn money during World War II and kept at it with repertory theater roles and training from the granddaughter of Ira Aldridge, an American who became a renowned Shakespearean actor in England, according to Cameron’s British Film Institute biography.
   His break into movies also broke barriers for British cinema. Cameron was cast in one of the starring roles in Pool of London, a 1951 crime noir movie that was the first British film to feature an interracial relationship. His character, Johnny Lambert, is a merchant seaman who meets a white woman while on shore leave.

   Cameron worked steadily making movies throughout the 1950s, sometimes in stereotyped roles such as a witch doctor and a murderous rebel leader in British Kenya, and sometimes in roles designed to confound stereotypes, such as his portrayal of a doctor in Simba, a 1955 film that also dealt with the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya.
   He earned his 007 stripes in the fourth James Bond film, Thunderball, in 1965, playing an intelligence operative in the Bahamas opposite Sean Connery. During the 1950s and 1960s, he supplemented his film work with frequent British TV roles, including two episodes of Doctor Who in 1966.
   “Unless it was specified that this was a part for a Black actor, they would never consider a black actor for the part. And they would never consider changing a white part to a Black part,” Cameron told the Guardian in a 2017 interview.

   “So that was my problem. I got mostly small parts, and that was extremely frustrating — not just for me but for other Black actors. We had a very hard time getting worthwhile roles.”
   In 1972, Cameron got to work alongside another Bahama-born actor who broke barriers for Black film actors. Sidney Poitier cast Cameron to play the ambassador of an African country in A Warm December, in which Poitier starred and directed.
   Born in Bermuda in 1917 as the youngest of six children, Cameron arrived in England in 1939 after joining the British merchant marine. After Britain entered World War II that same year, “it was almost impossible for a Black person to get any kind of job,” and he didn’t have any qualifications, Cameron would recall.

   Also read: When Aishwarya Rai put family before career, turned down Will Smith’s film to return to India
   “Coming from Bermuda in 1939, which was a very racist island, the degree of racism in England didn’t surprise me. I had grown up with it,” he told The Royal Gazette in a 2018 interview.
   Cameron appeared in a number of major Hollywood and British films late in his life, including The Interpreter with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn (2005); The Queen with Hellen Mirren (2006) and Inception (2010).

   Queen Elizabeth II named him a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2009 for his contributions to British entertainment.
   “At a time when the whole world is examining the history of people of color, Earl Cameron’s life and legacy makes us pause and remember how he broke barriers and refused to be confined to what his humble beginnings may have dictated as his path,” David Burt, the premier of Bermuda, told The Royal Gazette late Friday.
   Cameron is survived by his wife, Barbara, and his children.

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   1. Hey Dan…thanks for the headsup on the passing of Earl Cameron…a groundbreaking actor for sure. Rest in Peace.

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