RIP - Ray Harryhausen

The film world lost a visionary today with the passing of Ray Harryhausen, visual effects pioneer whose legendary work included effects for films like Mighty Joe Young, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and the original Clash of the Titans. He was 92 years old.

Harryhausen's love of effects began in 1933, when, at the age of 13, he saw King Kong. He fell in love with the film, coinciding with the simultaneous beginning of a life-long love of science fiction, and he began experimenting with making short films that focused on the then nascent filed of visual effects.

After having managed to meet Willis O'Brien, the man behind the landmark effect in King Kong, O'Brien began mentoring the young Harryhausen. Following WWII, where he served with Frank Capra, Harryhausen was hired to work as an animator on Mighty Joe Young. O'Brien trusted Harryhausen enough at this point, that most of the animating chores fell to him.

RIP - Elisabeth Sladen

Some incredibly sad news today, as word is coming out that Elisabeth Sladen, beloved to Doctor Who fans all over the world for her role as Sarah Jane Smith, has died. She was just 63.

Sladen played Sarah Jane Smith on the classic series from 1973 - 1976 and would return to the role twice in the 1980s. After the series revival, she returned in the 2006 episode School Reunion. Her appearance proved popular, and she soon was starring in her own spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, aimed at children.

Sladen began acting as a child in school, eventually heading to drama school and beginning her professional career in repertory theatre. By 1971, she was making guest appearances in such television series as Doomwatch and Z-Cars.

In 1973, longtime Doctor Who companion Katy Manning was leaving the series, and producer Barry Letts was scrambling to find a replacement. Sladen was recommended  to Letts by the producer of Z-Cars, and when she auditioned for Letts and current Doctor Jon Pertwee, it was clear she was the best possible choice.

Sladen and Tom Baker

Sladen would appear alongside Pertwee during his final season, and help viewers adjust to the new Doctor as played by Tom Baker. Her remarkable chemistry with Baker, combined with her portrayal of Sarah Jane as an intrepid and resourceful best friend to the Time Lord, completely redefined what the role of the companion could be. As a testament to her popularity in the role, when she left the series in 1976, it was front page news.

Sladen reprised the role in a pilot for a failed TV spin-off called K-9 and Company, and once again in the 1983 anniversary special The Five Doctors. She would reprise the role for charity specials and audio productions, but it was not until 2006 that she again "officially" played the role in Doctor Who proper. That appearance led to her successful spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which debuted in 2007, and recently began airing its fourth season.

Sladen remained a popular figure to Doctor Who fans, consistently ranking at or near the top of polls to list fans' favourite companions. It has been revealed that she had been battling cancer for some time, and eventually succumbed to the illness. She is survived by her husband, actor Brian Miller, and her daughter, actress Sadie Miller.

Sladen and current Doctor Matt Smith

RIP - Sidney Lumet

A legendary filmmaker passed away over the weekend; Sidney Lumet died at the age of 86 after a battle with lymphoma. Lumet was one of the great American directors, having been behind such classics as 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network and The Verdict.

Mr. Lumet was born in Philadelphia in 1924. His parents were veteran performers of the Yiddish stage. His father Baruch was an actor, director, producer and writer, while his mother Eugenia was a dancer. As a young boy, Lumet began making appearances on stage, and soon made his Broadway debut. He had a successful career as an actor on stage, which continued up until World War II began.

Returning from military service in 1946, he joined the newly created Actor's Studio and created a theatre workshop. it was at this point he began his directing career. He started doing some Off-Broadway and summer stock work, while also teaching.

In the 1950s, he began working in early television, gaining a reputation as one of the most proficient and brilliant young directors in the medium. He directed episodes of Danger, Mama, You Are There, Playhouse 90, and Studio One. In 1957, he directed his first feature film, an adaptation of a teleplay that had been produced for Studio One. The film was set almost entirely within a jury room during the deliberation of a murder case. Henry Fonda played the lone juror who votes to acquit the accused, and the story follows his attempts to sway the votes of the others. The cast was one of the all-time great collections of character actors ; Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsalm, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden, Ed Begley, and John Fiedler to name just a few. The film was a critical triumph, and was nominated for 3 Oscars.

From there, Lumet returned to television, and also began directing feature films in earnest. He was incredibly prolific, completing a film per year throughout the 1960s. Not all of them were successful, but during this time Lumet made several classic films such as Long Day's Journey into Night, The Pawnbroker, Fail-Safe, and The Hill.

But it was the 1970s where Lumet had his greatest successes, both commercially and artistically. He started the decade with some minor successes in the form of The Anderson Tapes and The Offense. But, in 1973, he directed Serpico, a film that was a huge success in every way, and helped secure Al Pacino as a major box office draw. Lumet capitalized on that success with a remarkable run of films that were both commercial hits, as well as some of the best films of the decade; Murder on the Orient Express, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and Equus.

Lumet began the 1980s with strong, challenging work. He released Prince of the City, Deathrap and The Verdict, all of which were successes. But the rest of the decade proved mixed for Lumet. He made some flawed films with moments of greatness, such as Power, Running on Empty, and Q&A, but there were more weak films than he ever had previously.

In the 1990s, he continued to make films, but they were smaller in scale. Some remain hidden gems well worth checking out, such as Night Falls on Manhattan. In the last decade, he seemed to find his footing once again, releasing two films that rank among his best, Find Me Guilty and the stunning Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. The latter would be his final film.

Lumet was a director who favoured a naturalistic or realistic style, preferring a technique that didn't call too much attention to itself. He was a master of combining social commentary into films without making them preachy or distracting from the story. He was highly regarded for his speed, as well as for his versatility in taking on all kinds of genres. He was also renowned for his ability to collaborate without ego, as well as his genuine love for, and rapport with, actors. This explains why so many actors he worked with went on to be nominated for or win major awards for their work in his films.

Sidney Lumet surely must be counted among the greats of American film making, even if his modest ego never permitted him to blow his own horn too loudly. He was nominated for an Oscar five times, four for directing (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network and The Verdict) and once for writing (Prince of the City), but he didn't win an Oscar until 2005, when he was presented with an Honorary Award. But it's his body of work that is the true measure of his skill, and few filmmakers can boast the sheer amount of classic work that Sidney Lumet produced. He will be missed.

RIP - Nicholas Courtney

More sad news, this time from the world of Doctor Who. Nicholas Courtney, the actor who played fan favourite character Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, has died at the age of 81 following a long battle with cancer.

Courtney first played Lethbridge-Stewart in 1968, appearing opposite Patrick Troughton's Second Doctor in The Web of Fear. He was a regular army Colonel then, but he returned later that season in The Invasion, newly promoted to Brigadier and heading up an international organization called the United Nations Intelligence Task Force, or UNIT.

When Troughton left the series and the Doctor regenerated into his third incarnation, played by Jon Pertwee, it was decided that the character would be Earth-bound for a time, and would work with UNIT. Courtney became a series regular during this era, his formal and somewhat pompous military bearing creating a good contrast to the Doctor's eccentricities. Over time, he would be brought back again and again, to fan delight. He appeared opposite all of the classic series Doctors, with the exception of Colin Baker's sixth Doctor (although he did appear opposite the Sixth Doctor in audio productions and a charity special).

Oddly enough, The Web of Fear was not his first appearance in Doctor Who. He had first appeared on the series in The Daleks' Master Plan, a 1965 serial starring William Hartnell as the Doctor.

RIP - Dwayne McDuffie

Shocking news hit the world of comics today, as it has been reported that comic book and animation writer and icon Dwayne McDuffie had died. Although the exact cause of death has yet to be confirmed, it is being suggested that he passed away during a medical procedure he underwent on Monday.

McDuffie got his start in the comics industry as an assistant to an editor at Marvel Comics. His first major work as a comics writer was Damage Control, a satirical and irreverent book about a construction company that specializes in cleaning up after destructive battles between superheroes and their foes. He became a freelance writer in 1990, contributing stories to Marvel, DC, Archie and Harvey Comics.

During his time at Marvel, McDuffie had been frustrated at the stereotypical way African-American characters had been depicted and created by the company. Reacting to the overtly "hip" and "urban" characters, McDuffie fired off a pitch for a new series called Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers, in which, among other things, all of the characters would ride skateboards, sport hairstyles and clothing from 1974, speak in bizarre speech patterns, and have smart white friends. The sarcastic pitch is now legendary in fandom.

In 1992, McDuffie finally was able to take a huge leap for multi-culturalism in comics when he founded Milestone Media. It was a comic book company. It featured new super heroes. It was owned and run by African-Americans. Although it featured heroes such as Hardware and Icon, the most popular and enduring hero created under Milestone was Static. Though Milestone's comic line eventually folded by 1996, Static lived on through the popular and award-winning animated series Static Shock. In 2008, DC Comics announced that it would be folding the Milestone characters into the DC Universe proper, and severely heroes have shown up in various DC titles.

During the late 1990s, McDuffie was a story editor and writer for Static Shock, which led to his other career, that of animation writer. While he worked on Teen Titans, Scooby Doo, and Ben 10, he was most lauded as one of the guiding lights of the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series.

After Justice League ended, he returned to comics, writing Beyond! and Fantastic Four for Marvel, and Firestorm and Justice League for DC. Although Justice League seemed like a perfect fit, based on his experience with the popular animated series, his take struggled to connect with fans. He was fired from the book after airing his creative differences with DC regarding its direction during an online interview.

Even with this fracas, McDuffie enjoyed a stellar, almost beloved, reputation within the industry. His shocking passing, much too soon, will leave a large hole in comics. He was a unique voice in an industry that could always use more uniqueness, and even though he would surely argue that more work needed to be done to create true diversity in comics, we can thank him for much of the strides that have been made. 

RIP - Maria Schneider

Some sad news today, as word comes that Maria Schneider, who starred as Jeanne in the classic and controversial film Last Tango in Paris, has died. She was just 58 years old.

Schneider had started acting in films as early as 1969, but it wasn't until she co-starred with Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris that she became famous internationally. The story of Paul (Brando), who, after his wife's suicide, enters into an anonymous affair with a young French woman (Schneider) who is about to be married. It was immensely controversial for its frank and explicit sex scenes between Brando and the then 20 year old Schneider. It was loudly decried, and released with an X-rating. However, Brando's performance was celebrated for its brutal vulnerability and honesty.

While Brando, and even Bertolucci to some degree, escaped relatively unscathed, Schneider took the brunt of a lot of the outrage. This situation was exacerbated once she revealed she was openly bisexual and that she was a user of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. At the time, she spoke warmly of the experience of making the film, and of her relationship with Brando and Bertolucci. However, in the years that followed, she revealed that she felt manipulated and humiliated during the making of the film, and she said she considered Bertolucci to be "a gangster and a pimp". She remained friends with Brando for the rest of his life, but did comment that on set he wasn't terribly sensitive to how she felt at the time.

The experience and the furor surrounding it did lead to her gaining larger stardom. In 1975 she starred opposite Jack Nicholson in The Passenger, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. In 1976, she was slated to star in the ill-fated Caligula, but walked off the set after she refused to do nudity. She checked herself into an institution in Rome. The years since Last Tango in Paris had taken their toll, and her drug addiction, combined with a suicide attempt, left her in a dangerous state.

By 1980, she had recovered, and she began working steadily in European films once again. She starred in films like A Woman Like Eve, Savage Nights and Jane Eyre throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Though she never reached the heights of stardom she achieved in the 1970s, she did seem to be happy with both her work and life.

Sadly, she had battled an unknown illness for some time, which eventually claimed her life.

RIP - Stephen J. Cannell

Stephen Cannell, the prolific writer and television producer whose greatest successes became part of a generation's pop cultural memory, has passed away from melanoma. He was 69.

In his early years, Cannell struggled with dyslexia, and eventually overcame the disorder well enough to become a sought after television writer in the late 1960s. After stints writing for Ironside and Columbo, he became the story editor for Jack Webb's police procedural series Adam-12.

While he had been working steadily, in 1974 he co-created what would be only the first of many mega-successful television series when The Rockford Files debuted. A charming series about affable if long-suffering ex-con turned PI Jim Rockford (James Garner), the series was a critical and popular favourite, buoyed by a central character that seemed to be the antithesis of the cliched hard-boiled cool PI. Rockford had the tried and true noble code, and he was definitely world weary, but he took far more punches than he gave, and lived in a trailer on the beach and was constantly getting a raw deal. The series became a beloved classic for its wit and reliably artifice-free style, combined with Garner's immense charm.

But it was by no means Cannell's sole hit, nor was it his sole hit big enough to indelibly leave its mark on pop culture. The Greatest American Hero was another successful series, less so during its original run, but in the year since it has acquired a powerful cult status, and is fondly remembered by people who watched the series in reruns as kids.

The A-Team was a phenomenon, becoming one of the signature series of the 1980s, and running for five seasons. Following the adventures of four Vietnam war vets falsely accused of a crime they didn't commit, the series was juvenile and campy, but its high action quotient and infectious sense of fun connected with a generation of kids, quickly becoming a classic. It made a super-star of Mr. T and reignited the somewhat stagnant careers of George Peppard and Dirk Benedict. A recent big-screen remake tried but failed to capture the spirit of the original.

Following the end of The A-Team in 1987, Cannell began his long association with the Vancouver film community by shooting his next two projects there. One, Wiseguy, was a dark and complex series following an FBI agent's (Ken Wahl) journey as an undercover operative. The series was not a huge hit, but its dark theme of the loss of identity, and its adult approach to the subject matter was miles away from his previous, campier fare, and it was a major critical success. The other series debuting in 1987 was 21 Jump Street, and once again, Cannell successfully captured lightning in a bottle. The show was a huge hit, and launched the career of a young actor named Johnny Depp. Although Jump Street was more light-hearted than Wiseguy, it also dealt with more serious subject matter and experimented with longer story arcs.

Throughout the 1980s, Cannell created show after show that resonated in some way; Hunter, Hardcastle and McCormick, Stingray and Riptide. He also created some series, that although they were not successful, are now seen as years ahead of their time; Unsub, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe and Profit. In the 1990s, Cannell moved away from network television and embraced syndication, with one of his series, Renegade, becoming the most watched syndicated series of its time after Baywatch. But Cannell moved away from television now, choosing to focus on another type of writing.

Cannell began to write mystery novels, many featuring detective Shane Scully. He found great success as a mystery writer, and even returned to television as an actor in Castle, playing himself as one of the eponymous character's poker buddies, all of whom were famous writers. Cannell is survived by his wife of 46 years, Marcia, and their three children and three grandchildren.

RIP - Tony Curtis

A Hollywood icon has passed away; Tony Curtis is dead at the age of 85. Curtis was one of the most vibrant leading men of the late 1950s and early 1960s, giving indelible performances in such classic films as The Defiant Ones, Sweet Smell of Success, Some Like it Hot, Spartacus, and The Boston Strangler.

He was born Bernard Schwartz in the Bronx in 1925, to poverty-stricken Hungarian immigrants. His father operated a tailor shop, and his mother was a schizophrenic that regularly beat her children. The Depression hit the Schwartz' so hard that Bernard and one brother were made wards of the state. They lived a hard-scrabble, tough existence, and Bernard Schwartz' escape only came with WWII, where he served aboard a navy submarine in Japan, witnessing their eventual surrender.

After the war, Schwartz returned to New York, where he studied acting and performed in the Catskills before eventually signing a contract with Universal Studios in 1948. His name change to Tony Curtis, and his incredible good lucks, marked him as an up and comer, and by 1951, he was headlining a film called The Prince Who Was a Thief. That same year, he married an actress whose career was also on the rise and whose beauty rivaled his own; Janet Leigh. The marriage made them media darlings, and the press followed them everywhere.

In 1953, Curtis headlined his first major hit, portraying legendary magician Houdini. The film, and his high-profile marriage, cemented his status as an A-list movie star. He would spend the next few years making schlocky costume pictures that the thoroughly modern and urban Curtis seemed ill suited for.

It wasn't until 1957, and his magnificent turn as sleazy press agent Sidney Falco in Sweet Smell of Success, that Curtis began to be recognized as a gifted and powerful dramatic actor. The following year, he appeared opposite Kirk Douglas in The Vikings and co-starred in Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones, playing a racist fugitive manacled to fellow escapee Sidney Poitier. Curtis received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the film.

He followed this up with some very successful comedies, Mister Cory, The Perfect Furlough and Operation Petticoat, all directed by Blake Edwards. He followed this with a film that many consider to be the best American comedy film or all time, Some Like it Hot. During this creatively successful period, he would appear in Spartacus, The Outsider and The Great Imposter.

But in 1962, he and Leigh divorced after an affair with a 17 year old co-star came to light. The break-up and affair severely damaged his reputation, and although he had a hit with Blake Edwards' The Great Race, his career never really recovered. In 1968, he gave a final great performance as The Boston Strangler. But the film was years ahead of its time, and was seen by the critics and public of the day as tacky and garish.

The 1970s were spent in minor film roles and marginally successful TV shows, and he went through multiple marriages as well. The 1980s did not begin well, either, with a stint in rehab. However, during this time he discovered a love for painting and his work sold well, inspired by Matisse and buoyed by his celebrity. But it brought him a measure of peace and it would remain his primary love for the rest of life.

And with his passing, there is the feeling that an era of old time glamour has come finally to an end. His career was full of peaks and valleys, but few had peaks that rose as high.

Trailer and Buzz Comes in for Trigger

If you were a fan of recent Canadian film, chances are you have seen the work of Tracy Wright. Wright appeared in such films as Monkey Warfare, Highway 61, Last Night, Blindness and Me and You and Everyone We Know. She was a fixture in groundbreaking Toronto theatre, and made appearances in sketches for The Kids in the Hall, as well as the classic Twitch City. Wright and Canadian icon Don McKellar were probably the most beloved husband/wife team in the country's art world, and her list of collaborators and admirers include Daniel MacIvor, Bruce McDonald, Molly Parker, Callum Keith Rennie, and many others.

So it was a huge loss when she passed away in June after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Shortly after her diagnosis, celebrated playwright and screenwriter MacIvor wrote a film for Wright and Molly Parker called Trigger, with Bruce McDonald coming on board to direct. According to Parker, Wright's husband McKellar told them to hurry if they wanted this film to be Wright's final performance.

Parker had this to say at a recent press conference: Don said the only way to do it was if you do it right now. Like, right now.

A recent article in the Vancouver Sun documents the making of the film, which got started after longtime friend Callum Keith Rennie donated some start-up money. After a very quick shoot, in which many Toronto pros donated their time, the film is now being shown at the Toronto Film Festival. Shot incredibly quickly, and with obviously real emotion behind it, it's already generating buzz as perhaps the Canadian film of the year. Here's the trailer:





Wright, who had given a lot to our country's arts over the years, certainly deserves a swan song as good as this one appears to be.

RIP - Dennis Hopper

Over the weekend, Hollywood rebel, iconoclast and sometime pariah Dennis Hopper died after a battle with cancer. He was 74. In 1969, he directed the film Easy Rider, one of counterculture's signature artistic works and one of the sparks that led to one of American film's most successful and artistically important periods.

Hopper was born in Dodge City, Kansas in 1936, though he and his family moved to San Diego in 1940. He began acting while in high school, and soon became a contract player with Warner Bros. His earliest work came in the early days of television, though it was his small role opposite James Dean in the classic Rebel Without a Cause that brought him to the attention of the higher-ups at Warners. He soon was cast in a co-starring role in another Dean film, this time as the son of Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor in George Stevens' classic melodrama Giant.

Now part of the Hollywood young crowd, he dated Natalie Wood and Joanne Woodward and was seen to be a rising star. Then he began filming From Hell to Texas. He clashed epically with director Henry Hathaway, causing so much friction that his Hollywood career was effectively finished. He left for New York, to study with Lee Strasberg and continue working in television.

By the mid 1960s, Hopper began to make a gradual return to Hollywood films via small roles in such pictures as The Sons of Katie Elder, Cool Hand Luke and Hang 'Em High. He had become friendly with Peter Fonda, who was then starring in a series of motorcycle B-pictures. Together, they hatched an idea for a movie that followed traditional western archetypes while substituting outlaws for hippies and horses for motorcycles.

The rock n' roll soundtrack, counterculture themes, heavy drug use and completely anarchic style of Easy Rider was like a bomb going off in Hollywood. Hopper, along with Fonda and Terry Southern, wrote the screenplay. He and Fonda played the central characters and Hopper directed the whole thing. Not only was a huge success financially, but it was also a critical success and total game-changer, winning Best Picture at the 1969 Cannes film festival.

Easy Rider changed Hopper's career. Now he was seen as the chief auteur of the hippie generation. But he was also a committed drug addict and alcoholic by this point, which only served to heighten his already manic state of mind. When he and a relatively untrained hippie crew travelled to Peru to shoot his follow up, The Last Movie, things got quickly out of control. Though it won top prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1971, it was largely an indulgent, incoherent mess that flopped with critics and public alike.

His behaviour and addictions made him mostly unemployable during this time, but he did close out the 1970s with a supporting role in Apocalypse Now, though his addled behaviour would greatly contribute to the legendarily troubled production.

In the 1980s Hopper finally sobered up. The first film he shot after leaving rehab was David Lynch's Blue Velvet in 1986. His performance as the psychotic, terrifying Frank Booth was mesmerizing and served as Hopper's great comeback vehicle. His performance the same year as an alcoholic father in Hoosiers earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.

Hopper also returned to directing, shooting the celebrated cop and gangsta film Colors. He had a meaty role as the villain in Speed, which introduced him to the world of big-budget blockbusters, and he followed it up with similar roles in films such as Waterworld.

In 2001, he returned to television, serving as the antagonist in the first season of 24. During this time, he also became an avid photographer and collector of artwork. He was working on the TV adaptation of Crash when he fell ill.

RIP - Frank Frazetta

A legend passed away yesterday, as the master of fantasy illustration, Frank Frazetta, died at the age of 82. His visceral, violent, yet somehow refined, oil paintings for the covers of paperback editions of the adventures of Conan, Tarzan, John Carter of Mars and others in the 1960s singlehandedly redefined the look of fantasy adventure, and made him one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century.

He was born in 1928, and raised in Brooklyn. His talent was recognized as early as eight years old, when he enrolled in the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts. Sadly, Frazetta's patron and mentor died eight years later, and the school's subsequent closure changed Frazetta's career path.

Not an "arty type", Frazetta was a physical man for most of his life. He was a good enough baseball player to nearly sign with the New York Giants. He was easily as muscular as some of the warriors he would gain fame depicting, and he had a long-standing love affair with motorcycles.

From the late 1940s and into the 1950s, he made his name in the comic book world through solid work on countless books of all types, doing Westerns, funny animal books, The Shining Knight features for DC and classic Buck Rogers covers for Famous Funnies. He did some fill-in work for Al Capp on Lil Abner. He worked with Harvey Kurtzman on the Little Annie Fanny comic strip in Playboy, and his painting of Ringo Starr for Mad led to his creating the movie poster for the woody Allen-scripted, Peter Sellers-starring film What's New Pussycat? He also began working for Warren Publishing, providing art for their horror magazines Creepie, Eerie and Vampirella.

But it was his cover for a paperback pulp book called Conan the Adventurer that made him a legend. With that single painting, he began a body of work that would redefine what fantasy could look like; he brought an earthy, sexy, bloody reality to his painting that still managed to retain a fierce beauty. Publishers would commission artwork from him and then have authors build a story around the result. Books would sell simply because they had one of his covers.

In the 1970s, his fame and influence reached their zenith, as his style merged perfectly with the rise of the Heavy Metal genre. He would paint album covers for bands such as Molly Hatchet and Nazareth, continuing to do album covers until 2006, when he painted Wolfmother's debut album.

Frazetta would continue to work well into the later 1990s, when a series of strokes made his work progressively difficult. He would switch to using his left hand, and become the focus of a documentary about his life. His wife Ellie, whom he married in 1956 and who had been his model often, passed in 2009. He is survived by his four children, two sisters and 11 grandchildren.

RIP - Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren, the impresario that helped bring the Sex Pistols to the world and the man who largely created the punk aesthetic, has died at the age of 64 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

He was born in 1946, and was raised mostly by a wealthy grandmother. By the 1960s, he was already an outsider and enfant terrible, having been expelled from one art school and so alienating another that the school attempted to have him committed. By 1971, the budding artist/fashion designer had given up on school, leaving London's Goldsmith's College after painting a series entitled "I Will Be So Bad."

The next year, he and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood took over a King's Road store in Chelsea called Let it Rock, and immediately began doing things very differently. The shop would stay shut until the evenings, when it would open for only a few hours at a time. They renamed the store Too Fast to live, Too Young to Die. It was in this iteration that the New York Dolls came to visit. McLaren was so taken with the seminal American glam rock band he followed them back to the States and became the band's manager. He introduced radical politics to their image, dressing them in red suits based on the Soviet flag. The band broke up soon after.

He returned to London and to Westwood, and they opened Sex, a fetish clothing store. He would meet four musicians, most of whom came from a group called The Swankers, and would organize them into a new group. McLaren was a follower of the French Situationists, who believed in staging absurdist or provocative incidents as a spur to social change. with this in mind, and with his fashion already heavily on the edge, he dressed the band in what would become the punk look and encouraged the band members to indulge in their nihilistic rage at the status quo. Thus, The Sex Pistols were born.

The Sex Pistols became the face of the punk movement, and their single album, Never Mind The Bollocks: Here's The Sex Pistols, reached #1 in 1977. Punk became an aesthetic and a social movement and a musical genre, all wrapped in one, and the Pistols were the face of that movement. Famously fractious and unstable, they would break up during their first American tour in 1978, when Johnny Rotten walked off stage during a show in San Francisco.

Following the dissolution of the Pistols, McLaren briefly managed Adam and the Ants before creating the band Bow Wow Wow. In 1983, he released his own album, Duck Rock, which contained two hit singles. He continued to release albums, but never again achieved the cultural impact he attained in the 1970s. He is survived by his son.

RIP - Dick Giordano

Some very sad news in the world of comics, as legendary industry veteran Dick Giordano passed away over the weekend after a long battle with leukemia. He was 77.

Giordano began his career in comics in 1952, when he was hired as a freelance inker and artist for second-tier publisher Charlton Comics. He was mentored by Steve Ditko, the legendary penciller who would later co-create Spider-Man during his time at Marvel. Working steadily at Charlton, Giordano would rise through the ranks until he eventually become Editor-in-Chief and oversee the creation of Charlton's "Action Line", which included new or revamped super-hero titles such as Captain Atom, The Question, The Peacemaker, Judomaster, Peter Cannon...Thunderbolt, and The Blue Beetle.

In 1968, he moved over to DC Comics, where he would take over editing a number of mid-level titles. Though few of them were commercial successes, he would shepherd a number of titles that were critical successes and have since become classic runs, such as Deadman. He would also begin a lucrative partnership with artist Neal Adams, becoming his regular inker on their classic runs on Deadman, Green Lantern and Batman. Giordano would become a DC star, easily being the most famous inker of his day.

He left his exclusive gig at DC in 1971, to partner with Neal Adams in the creation of their ground-breaking studio, Continuity Associates. During this time, he began to work heavily as a penciller, doing classic work on Batman and Aquaman. In 1980, he returned to DC Comics as an inker, penciller and Executive Editor, a role he would fill until 1993. During this time, he also wrote a regular column that appeared in the letter pages of all DC Comics called Meanwhile... Beginning in the late 80s, Giordano began working hard for creator's rights, a cause he fought for for the rest of his life.

In 1993, following the passing of his wife, and due to his age and increasing hearing loss, Giordano entered retirement. For many fans of DC comics over the years, it was the end of an era, and his influence would be missed.

RIP - Peter Graves

Peter Graves, the actor who portrayed super-cool spymaster Jim Phelps on TV's Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973, and who later lampooned his stoic demeanour in the Airplane! movies, passed away on Sunday at the age of 83.

He was born Peter Aurness, and was the younger brother of fellow actor James Arness. After serving in World War II, he studied drama on the GI Bill before following James to Hollywood, where he toiled in minor roles until the 1950s after changing his name to avoid comparisons with James.

He appeared in supporting roles in such classic films as Stalag 17 and The Night of the Hunter, as well as in a number of B Westerns and Sci-fi films. In 1955, NBC cast him in their new TV series Fury, a family show in which Graves played a rancher who takes on an orphan and a stallion. The show lasted until 1959.

Nearly a decade of forgettable film and TV roles followed before he landed the role of Phelps, taking over from Steven Hill, who played original team leader Dan Briggs for the first season of Mission: Impossible. Graves' serious approach and effortless cool helped gel the series into the massive hit it became, and it made a Graves famous the world over.

After the show ended, he appeared in numerous TV movies and other roles until he took on the role of Captain Oveur in the film Airplane!, produced, written and directed by David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams. The spoof film lampooned the star-studded airplane disaster movies of the era, and worked largely because established actors like Graves and Leslie Neilson sent up their ultra-serious style and played every line ("Do you like movies about gladiators, Joey?") totally straight.

In the late 1980's, Graves became the host of A&E's Biography, lending his voice to countless documentaries on the lives of famous people throughout history. since the late 1990s, he was basically retired. He is survived by his wife, Joan Graves, and three daughters, Amanda Lee Graves, Claudia King Graves and Kelly Jean Graves.

RIP - Jean Simmons

Legendary Hollywood actress Jean Simmons passed away over the weekend. She was 80 years old.

The British expat and star of such films as Guys & Dolls, Elmer Gantry and Spartacus was one of the leading stars in film in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, even as many believe that Hollywood never fully took advantage of her incredible talent.

She first rose to prominence in Britain when she played Estella in David Lean's 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations. Her performance in that film brought her to the attention of both Laurence Olivier and the directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They both wanted her for their next films, and worked out a way to share her services, allowing Simmons to appear in both Black Narcissus and Olivier's legendary film version of Hamlet as Ophelia. Her interpretation of Ophelia brought her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.

Her amazing success of course brought her to Hollywood, and she was soon under contract to Howard Hughes, who wanted her services for altogether seedier reasons. Simmons, who was married to actor Stewart Granger at the time, would not come across, and Hughes retaliated by refusing to loan her out for William Wyler's Roman Holiday, for which she was first choice. After refusing to re-sign with Hughes' RKO Studios, Simmons would be further punished, when he resolved to put her in nothing but lousy films until her contract expired. she never signed with another studio.

While she worked steadily in films throughout the early and mid 1950s, and frequently received accolades for her stellar work, choice roles for women were difficult to get in those times. She appeared in a number of high-profile films such as The Robe, and she was in the classic Guys & Dolls, opposite Marlon Brando.

It wasn't until 1960's Spartacus that she had a role that allowed he to be more than simply support for the leading man. However, her subtle, heartfelt work was somewhat lost among the all-star cast of show-stealers.

1960 was an especially good year for Simmons, both personally and professionally. She also co-starred in another classic film, Elmer Gantry, opposite Burt Lancaster. The film was directed by Richard Brooks, with whom Simmons fell in love. Her marriage to Granger, already under strain, ended in light of her love affair with Brooks. She and Brooks son wed, and stayed together for 17 years.

The sixties ended well for Simmons, with her winning the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of a housewife running away from a failing marriage in The Happy Ending. But, like many actresses of her generation, the 1970s did not go so well, as she entered middle age and found roles harder to attain. She returned to the stage and found success on television, notably in The Thorn Birds, for which she won an Emmy.

The 1980s began badly, with a stint in rehab for alcoholism, but she was public about her troubles, hoping to help other women come forward with their addictions and seek help. She continued to work, almost exclusively in television. Ms. Simmons is survived by her two daughters and a grandson.

RIP - Robert B. Parker

Yesterday, popular and acclaimed mystery writer Robert B. Parker passed away at his writing desk in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 77 years old.

Parker first gained fame in 1973 when he published his first novel The Godwulf Manuscript, which featured the gourmet cooking, ex-boxing, literary and sport loving Boston private detective referred to only by his last name; Spenser. The book did well, and Spenser was an indelible figure, a classic wise-cracking private eye with with a world weary demeanor and a code of nobility. More Spenser novels followed, with the character fast becoming the heir to Philip Marlowe.

In the 1985 a Spenser TV series debuted, starring Robert Urich as the detective and shot in and around Boston. Though Spenser: For Hire was well received, Parker was disappointed with the final product (though he championed the performances of the cast), and ABC was unhappy with the high cost of the series. It was cancelled in 1988. A spin off series called A Man Called Hawk, focusing on Avery Brooks' hitman Hawk, only lasted one season. There would be a series of TV Movies made in the 1990's based on the novels featuring Urich and Brooks in their Spenser: For Hire roles. Starting in 1999 A&E produced a series of TV Movies based on several Spenser novels featuring Joe Mantegna as the detective , which were marginally well-received.

Meanwhile, the intensely prolific Parker continued publishing Spenser novels almost annually, although his incredible work ethic allowed him to publish over works as well. In 1989 the Raymond Chandler estate authorized Parker to complete Chandler's last unfinished Philip Marlowe novel, Poodle Springs, and in 1991 he published his sequel to the classic novel The Big Sleep, Perchance to Dream.

In the late 1990s, during an incredibly productive period, Parker added to his stable of recurring characters by beginning his series of novels featuring small town police chief Jesse Stone, and another series featuring female PI Sunny Randall. Both have attained their own measure of popularity, with the Stone series being adapted for a series of TV Movies starring Tom Selleck. He also wrote short stories, essays and articles and non-fiction, as well as switching genres to the Western and creating yet another series of novels, these featuring gunslingers for hire Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole. The first novel, Appaloosa, was adapted to a feature film directed by Ed Harris.

Over time, Parker became most acclaimed for the complexity he brought to the private eye genre, namely for his ability to create and examine male to male relationships such as Spenser and Hawk or Hitch and Cole. The Spenser novels were also lauded for their depiction of a meaningful long-term relationship between Spenser and Susan Silverman, one that has suffered estrangements and deepened over time, without resorting to the cliche of marriage.

I grew up on the Spenser novels (of which there were 38 published by the time of his death), and they were absolutely a massive influence on me as a reader. Parker and Chandler led to my life-long love of pulp fiction and film noir. Parker was a machine of a writer, churning out enjoyable, if somewhat turgid, mystery novels that anyone could read and enjoy, with characters that had an undeniable reality. It's fitting he died at his desk, because that's how he would have wanted to go; with his boots on.

Brittany Murphy and Our Need to Get Involved

I'm going to have to be delicate here, because I'm going to write about the late Brittany Murphy and her death, something that is obviously tragic and very, very sad. But an event like this also brings up one of the most infuriating and narcissistic qualities of modern human beings. Namely the way that we incorporate celebrity tragedy into our own lives when we really have absolutely no connection whatsoever.

Ms. Murphy's passing is a sad thing, no question. When I found out about it, I felt for her family and husband and her friends. I thought that, when I had seen her performances, particularly in 8 Mile and Sin City, she had an odd little spark that was interesting and showed some talent. It was, in the most serious sense of the word, a shame. And if her death was, as rumoured, caused by complications stemming from anorexia, that that is an issue that Hollywood as a whole needs to do something about.

But then I moved on. Why? Because I didn't know the woman. I saw her in some movies. I didn't know her, and it's completely crass of me to share my "feelings" about her death considering there are people out there right now who did know her and love her that must be going through hell. So why would I do it? Well, to make myself feel important, maybe. Or make myself feel like I'm somehow part of the scene. But I'm not not. And using the death of a stranger to do so makes me pathetic, doesn't it?

I know some of you may be thinking that I've written more than a few obits for the famous over the life of the Nerd Report, but I insist that there's a difference. What I hope I've done with my obits is write an actual obituary; they aren't about me or my feelings (with the exception of Paul Benedict, who I actually met once or twice) they are about the life and legacy of the artist.

Even other celebs are guilty of this. Eonline has this story about how some celebs are "tweeting" their feelings. First off, "tweeting" something like that has to be to most moronic and inappropriate way to voice a reaction that has yet to be invented. To use that method to detail your intimate feelings about the death of a friend is insane. Literally. But some celebs (I'm looking at you Kevin Smith) claim not to have known her at all and still have things to say. Look, I get you're trying to make a gesture about a colleague, but it's really got nothing to do with you.

We need, especially in moments like this, to actually muster up real feelings and real empathy and a real sense of others. Sometimes the best you can do is simply feel for their family and keep quiet.

RIP - Barry Letts

Some sad news over the weekend, with the news that former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts has passed away at the age of 84. Letts shepherded the series through a period of great success from 1970-1974, overseeing numerous milestones for the program and acting as a sort of elder statesman for the series, including involvement as a consultant on the show in the early 1980s.

Barry Letts was born in 1925, and following service in the Royal Navy during the second World War, he became a successful actor working mainly in repertory theatre. He would gain some minor fame with supporting roles in films, notably in Ealing Studios 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic. In the 1950s and 60s he turned to television, appearing in such shows as The Avengers before turning to writing teleplays and enrolling in the BBC's director program.

After directing several projects, he was hired to direct a serial for Doctor Who in 1967 called Enemy of the World. In 1969, he took over as producer for the series during a period of great change for the show. The show had just become a colour program, and the format had changed from having the Doctor wander through time and space to having the Doctor exiled on modern-day Earth.

With Jon Pertwee cast as the new Doctor, and an entirely new supporting cast built around the UNIT organization, Letts made great changes to show's tone, making it less of a children's science fiction series and more of a sophisticated action-adventure series with sci-fi overtones. As such, the show's popularity soared during his time on the series.

Among the long-standing contributions to the series made during his tenure were the introduction of The Master, a focus on ecological concerns, and the inclusion of more overt political and philosophical overtones. In one of his final (and arguably most important) acts as producer, he cast Pertwee's replacement; a largely unknown actor named Tom Baker. Baker would take on the role for seven years during the height of the show's popularity.

After leaving the series, he directed and produced numerous shows for the BBC, including an eight year stint producing Sunday Classics, a series serializing great works of literature. In 1980, he returned to the series as a consultant to help new producer John Nathan Turner transition into the role, with Letts credited as Executive Producer.

Letts had also directed several serials for Doctor Who, both during his time as producer and after he left, in addition to contributing scripts (although, during his producer tenure, these scripts were attributed to a pseudonym). He would also adapt Doctor Who stories for novelisation, as well as writing two Doctor Who radio plays and their subsequent novelisations.

In his later years, he directed the soap opera EastEnders, as well as teaching direction for the BBC. His wife passed away earlier this year, but he is survived by his two sons, both of whom are actors, and his daughter.

RIP - Patrick Swayze

After a 20 month battle with pancreatic cancer, actor Patrick Swayze died yesterday at the age of 57.

The actor was most famous for his roles in Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and was a sex symbol the world over for his combination of good looks and physical grace.

He was born and raised in Texas, but moved to New York to study dance after completing high school. He made his Broadway debut in 1975, and the same year he married Lisa Niemi, with whom he would spend the rest of his life.

Although he made his film debut in 1979's teenybopper comedy Shaketown, USA opposite Scott Baio, he would hold off on following Baio down the teen star route. In 1983, he broke out as one of the stars of Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of SE Hinton's classic novel The Outsiders. Starring opposite young unknowns like Tom Cruise, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio and Matt Dillon, he seemed to be lost in the shuffle of wild star power on display.

Following the success of The Outsiders, he would become a bankable star with leading roles in films like Red Dawn, and a starring role in the classic Civil War TV miniseries North and South.

But in 1987, he finally broke through into the top tier of stars with Dirty Dancing, in which he played tough but romantic Johnny Castle, a resort floor show dancer that sweeps a guest off her feet. The film cemented Swayze as a major leading man. It was an effective performance in what would become one of the iconic films of the decade.

A success like Dirty Dancing would be hard to top, but in 1990 Swayze did so when he starred in Ghost, a hybrid of thriller, horror, action, comedy, and above all, romance. As Sam, a murdered architect whose spirit cannot move on until he feels the love of his life is safe, Swayze had the role that largely defined his career. He excelled at playing the tough but decent man with a romantic bent. Ghost was a massive hit, earning five Oscar nominations and becoming one of the most successful romance films of all time.

In the 1990s, Swayze's star fell, although there were films that have since become cult favourites, such as Road House and Point Break. In 1995, he surprised many with his excellent performances as a drag queen in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. In recent years, appearances in good films were few and far between, a notable exception being his strange performance in Donnie Darko.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 2008. Even though pancreatic cancer is considered to be one of the hardest forms of the disease to conquer, Swayze fought hard. Given only six months to live when originally diagnosed, he beat that prognosis and even returned to work, starring in the dark A&E series The Beast, and winning solid reviews for his portrayal as a shady FBI agent.

Rob Lowe, who appeared in two films with Swayze, had this to say:

He was an expert dancer, he wrote hit songs, he starred in hit movies, he was an amazing horseman. But the thing I will remember him most for was his amazing love affair with his wife, Lisa. He played my brother twice, in The Outsiders when I was 17, and then in Youngblood. Tonight I lost a brother.

RIP - Jim Carroll

Poet, Punk Rocker and Outlaw Enfant Terrible Jim Carroll died on Friday in his Manhattan home. He was just 60 years old.

He was a teenage basketball star for the elite Manhattan private school Trinity when he first became addicted to both heroin and poetry. The combination of all three aspects made his 1978 memoir of those years, The Basketball Diaries, a cult classic.

While still a teen he fell under the spell of words, spending any time not on the court at St. Mark's Poetry Project in the East Village. In 1967, he self-published a pamphlet called Organic Trains, which won him a small following. His 1970 follow up, 4 Ups and 1 Down was even more successful, and his fame was compounded when The Paris Review published excerpts from his journals.

Now acclaimed by such lights as Patti Smith and Allen Ginsberg as the most original poet of his generation, he began a frenetic period, briefly attending Columbia and falling in with Andy Warhol's factory scene. He lived for a time with Smith and artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

After Living at the Movies, his first poetic work with a mainstream publisher, was released in 1973 to great acclaim, he fled New York for California. While there he cleaned up, got married and got divorced. He also published, in 1978, The Basketball Diaries, beginning his series of publications of his journals. The memoir was widely acclaimed and became one of the seminal wild youth cult books.

Around this time, with some encouragement by Patti Smith, he formed The Jim Carroll Band and released his first album, Catholic Boy. With its classic single People Who Died, the album has been hailed as the last great American punk album of its time. Carroll was seen as the heir apparent to fellow rock n' roll poet Lou Reed. Though their follow up albums weren't as successful, Carroll kept his hand in music, writing for other artists and recording as late as 2000.

He also continued to release books of poetry. His last collection, Void Of Course, was published in 1998.