RIP Armando Norte

 

Chicano animator and science fiction visionary Armando Norte dies at 72

CALO News

By Robb Hernández

6/10/2026

 

Legendary Chicano artist Armando Norte passed away on June 4, 2026, after a long illness at the age of 72. Born and raised in East Los Angeles on June 12, 1953, Norte attended Montebello High School and pursued art training at East L.A. College and California State University Los Angeles (CSULA). Later, he secured a job at Filmation Associates where he worked as an illustrator for several animated children’s shows of the 1980s, including “He-Man: Masters of the Universe,” “She-Ra: Princess of Power” and “The Real Ghostbusters,”among others.

Norte’s artistic voice was gregarious, extraordinary and startling like the aftereffects of a flash in his words.  More than his accomplishments in commercial media, Norte was part of a formative generation of Mexican American artists from Southern California who trailblazed an experimental vocabulary amid the tumult of post-1960s civil rights activism.

By instigating L.A. publics through intermedia artworks that provoked and disturbed, Norte found camaraderie among different art organizations germane to the expressive fabric of East L.A. In the early 1980s, he was a recognizable figure in Self Help Graphics’ earliest forays in Day of the Dead activities. His eye-catching looks and trendy ensembles innovated the cultural tradition with New Wave sensibilities and modernizing attitudes in costuming and make-up. His creative designs remolded cultural archetypes in ways that drew attention from the Los Angeles Times and attracted photographers Laura Aguilar, Harry Gamboa, Jr. and Ricardo Valverde, who respectively documented Norte and his family in acclaimed artworks like “At Home with the Nortes” (1990), “Blessed Bag Bombers” (1982), and “Armando y Consuelo: Two Alienz Muertos” (1983/1991).

More than dress, Norte was equally adept at printmaking and explored the medium in the historic Self Help Graphics’ Experimental Screenprint Ateliér in 1983 where his piece, ‘Savagery and Technology,” conjoined Mesoamerican ritual with a hardwired East L.A. His capacity to suffuse past, present, and future in his post-apocalyptic visualizations focused much of his work throughout the decade, which culminated in a retrospective show entitled “Barrio 2100,” organized by Consuelo Flores and featured historic and new work by Norte and sons, Alain and Gian, at Avenue 50 Studio on Fig in 2025. Norte’s screen prints have been collected by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas Austin, and the University of California Santa Barbara Special Research Collections. 

Over the years, Norte’s penchant for Chicano futurist aesthetics found partnerships with a host of other artistic innovators, among them Diane Gamboa, Nic Greene, Gronk, Willie Herrón and Marisela Norte, along with the space age rock band, Zolar X. His artistic practice in the early 80s can be seen in the speculatively fantastic and spectacularly odd theatrics in performance art actions of various art organizations and collectives.

One of his signature contributions innovated paper dress silhouettes for Day of the Dead celebrations choosing to supplant tradition with armored garments, plated extraterrestrials and machinic homeboys with kitschy charm akin to Elsa Schiaparelli couture. His expertise in science fiction idioms forged interdisciplinary outlets and exploratory platforms in ways that redefined the terms of Chicano art, preferring to focus on the rubble of artistic address and distress.

Though Norte would eventually step away from performance-based collaborations, his countercultural language of punk angst, urban pessimism and B-movie sensibilities endured in sketchbooks and paintings.

Later in life, Norte aligned himself with a rogues’ gallery where his unapologetic defense of monsters and counterfactual questions about life (and death) in East L.A. allowed for a fantastical place giving the divine, demeaned and alienated their due. More than his historic contributions to Chicano art and performance aesthetics, Norte might also be known for his personal touches quietly embellishing the borders and corners of paper goods with immaculate ghouls or adorning himself in handmade steampunk trimmings further solidifying his place among a pantheon of the city’s science fiction originals, along with his peers Forrest Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, Octavia Butler and Ray Harryhausen.

He is survived by his sister Marisela Norte; son Alain Flores Norte, daughter-in-law Aimée Suen, and their child Iyari Huitzili Suen Norte; son Gian Flores Norte, daughter-in-law Omega Norte and their sons Benjamin Ezekiel Norte and Titus Alexius Pedro Norte. He is preceded in death by his father Armando Norte, Sr. and his mother Eloisa Melendez Norte. The family asks that donations be made in his name to Self Help Graphics.

NORTE, Armando

Born: 6/12/1953, East Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Died: 6/4/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Armando Borte’s westerns – animator:

Brave Starr (TV) -1987-1988

Brave Starr: The Legend - 1988

RIP Dennis Rush

 

Dennis Rush, Child Actor in ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’ and ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’ Dies at 74

He played Lon Chaney Jr. in the James Cagney classic and Howie, one of Opie’s friends, on the beloved CBS sitcom.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

May 10, 2026

 

Dennis Rush, who played Lon Chaney Jr. as a youngster opposite James Cagney in Man of a Thousand Faces and one of Opie’s pals alongside Ron Howard on The Andy Griffith Show, has died. He was 74.

Rush, who was diagnosed with leukemia last month, lived in the San Diego area and died Saturday on the way to the hospital, actor-musician Keith Thibodeaux told The Hollywood Reporter. (Thibodeaux played Johnny Paul Jason, another of Opie’s friends, on The Andy Griffith Show, though he’s best known as Little Ricky from I Love Lucy.)

Rush also showed up from 1960-62 on seven episodes of Wagon Train — John Ford directed him in one — and from 1962-63 on three installments of Laramie. Both were Westerns from Revue Studios and NBC.

The freckle-faced Rush made his onscreen acting debut as Creighton Chaney, age 4, in Universal-International’s Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), starring Cagney as silent film star Lon Chaney (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera).

As Creighton grows up, Rush is succeeded by Rickie Sorensen, Robert Lyden and finally Roger Smith, who at the end will embark on his own career as an actor (and a starring turn in The Wolf Man!) using the stage name Lon Chaney Jr.

The youngster appeared as Howie Pruitt on CBS’ The Andy Griffith Show over three seasons from 1963-65. “I got to be in eight episodes over about a 2 1/2-year period,” he said in 2022. “It was just the best of the best.”

On the 1964 episode “Barney’s Physical,” Rush ad-libbed a line during rehearsal about Don Knotts’ character “hanging himself in the closet” — he had blanked on what was in the script — and it made it onto the show.

Dennis Eugene Rush was born in Philadelphia on June 10, 1951. When he was 1, his father, Jack, brought the family to Los Angeles and got a job as a film archivist at Universal.

“If you were good, you got to go to the studio and have lunch with dad, it was kind of a big deal,” he recalled last year at the Mayberry-I Love Lucy Festival in Granville, Tennessee.

While they were sitting at the lunch counter, “a man taps my dad on the shoulder and says, ‘I’m looking for a little boy to play my son, I’m making a movie called Man of a Thousand Faces’ … That gentleman was James Cagney.’”

When his father explained that Dennis wasn’t an actor and had to go to school, Cagney replied, “Trust me.” Rush’s screen test involved riding a tricycle around a Christmas tree, and he would spend six months on the movie.

Dorothy Malone portrayed his mom and Jim Backus his uncle, and Rush managed to get emotional in a scene in which Creighton is told by his dad that he’s going to be placed in an orphanage.

Cagney said, “‘You know, this has all been make-believe,” Rush remembered in a 1989 interview with the Los Angeles Times. “But you know how much fun Christmas can be and being with your folks and all that? Well, this little boy is never going to see his mom or his dad again. No more Christmases. No more good food.’

“He kept that up for a walk around the soundstage and had me in tears. We went right in and did the scene in five minutes. Whenever I had to cry from then on, I remembered that.”

He said he and Cagney exchanged Christmas cards every year before the Oscar winner died in March 1986.

Rush also worked on the films No Name on the Bullet (1959) and Follow Me, Boys! (1966) and on episodes of The Millionaire, Checkmate, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Perry Mason, The Lucy Show, Gunsmoke, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll and The Magical World of Disney.

“Every month or so you would do a number of things and then six months would go by and you wouldn’t do anything,” he said. “Then you’d get a call and go on an interview and you might be with 20 kids or you might be with 200 kids [vying for the same job].”

After he outgrew his child roles, Rush joined the U.S. Marines, and when he finished his stint, he learned that his parents had spent all the money he earned as an actor (he said he made as much as $500 a week).

He graduated from Notre Dame High School and then San Diego State in 1977, had a career in the hotel and restaurant business and was a frequent and popular guest at the Mayberry Lucy fest (he was there last month) and at the Mayberry Days celebration held each year in Mount Airy, North Carolina.

Says a post on the Mayberry Days website: “Dennis was an absolute joy to be around and one of the sweetest men you could ever meet. It was always a pleasure to welcome him to Mayberry Days, where he shared smiles, stories, hugs and kindness with fans from all over the world.”

Survivors include his siblings, Sally, Monica, Patrick and Megan. Another brother, Jack, died in February.

RUSH, Dennis (Dennis Eugene Rush)

Born: 6/10/1951, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A

Died: 5/10/2026, San Diego, California, U.S.A.

 

Dennis Rish’s westerns – actor:

No Name on the Bullett – 1959 (Billy Chaffee)

The Deputy (TV) - 1959 (Timmy Jackson)

Wagon Train (TV) – 1960-1962 (Davy Adams, David Ivers)

Frontier Circus (TV) - 1962 (boy)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1962 (kid)

Laramie (TV) – 1962-1963 (boy, Teddy)

RIP Anthony Guidera

 

Anthony Guidera, Actor Who Had a Memorable Kiss in ‘Species,’ Dies at 65

A onetime model based in Paris, he also appeared in ‘The Rock,’ ‘Armageddon,’ ‘The Postman’ and ‘The Annihilation of Fish.’

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

June 9, 2026

 

Anthony Guidera, an actor and model who played pilots for Michael Bay in The Rock and Armageddon and shared a memorable kiss with Natasha Henstridge in Species, has died. He was 65.

Guidera died Saturday in a Los Angeles-area hospital, his wife, Valarie, told TMZ. He was taken off life support after he had suffered a heart issue at their home on May 11, she said.

The hunky Guidera also appeared in Scott Winant’s ’Til There Was You (1997) and Kevin Costner’s The Postman (1997) and portrayed a gun seller in Charles Burnett’s The Annihilation of Fish (1999).

And on television, he showed up on everything from Renegade, Baywatch, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Red Shoe Diaries and Hope & Gloria to Nash Bridges, Acapulco H.E.A.T., Angel, ER and, on a 2005 episode for his last credit, L.A. Dicks.

In the sci-fi horror film Species (1995), directed by Roger Donaldson, Guidera’s character doesn’t know Henstridge’s Sil is an alien/human hybrid organism when he forces her to kiss him — to disastrous results.

The moment was recognized as the year’s best kiss at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards.

“This kiss between alien man-eater Natasha Henstridge and Anthony Guidera in Species is scary-good — emphasis on the scary,” Michelle Darrisaw wrote in a post for Oprah Daily. “It’s not every day that puckering up results in an exploding head.”

Born in San Francisco on Oct. 18, 1960, Guidera moved to Paris and traveled around the world for about a decade while making commercials and modeling under the name James Guidera.

He performed in plays in Paris, studied with Robert Lewis at The Actors Studio in New York and landed his first onscreen role as a bodyguard in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Part III (1990), working on that film for five months.

GUIDERA, Anthony

Born: 10/18/1960, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Died: 6/6/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Anthony Guidera’s westerns – actor:

Precious Find – 1996 (jumper)

RIP William Hasley

 

William Hasley, Screenwriter Who Co-Wrote Book With Caitlyn Jenner, Dies on Hollywood Hiking Trail

Variety

By Pat Saperstein

June 9, 2026

 

William Hasley, a writer who worked on TV series including “The Smurfs” and co-wrote an inspirational book with Caitlyn Jenner, has been identified as the hiker who was found dead on Hollywood’s popular Runyon Canyon trail on Saturday evening. He was 78.

Hasley was previously married to “The Bold and the Beautiful” actress Robin Riker. His death comes just two weeks after a man in his 40s died of cardiac arrest on the same trail.

The Los Angeles Fire Department told the Daily Mail, “LAFD Air Operations lowered rescuers to the patient, and medical treatment was administered.” Officials then pronounced Hasley dead at the scene.

Born in Pittsburgh, Hasley graduated Marshall U., where he played football and ran cross-country, according to his official bio. He started out in animation, writing for Hanna-Barbera and Filmation shows “The Smurfs” and “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.”

Always a sports fan, he worked with NBC-TV on the special “Star Salute to the U.S. Olympic Team,” where he met Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner commissioned Halsey to write the motivational book “Finding the Champion Within” for Simon & Schuster. He went on to ghostwrite other motivational books including “Passion, Profit & Power” and “The Slight Edge.” He also wrote “Chasing the Wind, The Autobiography of Steve Fossett,” and was a producer on two TV specials about the mysterious aviator.

He worked on developing the pilot “Borderline Heroes,” which was sold to ABC and wrote the half hour comedy pilot “Steeltown” for Castle Rock Entertainment and developed the pilot “Brooklyn District.”

Hasley went on to work with Oliver Stone and Gerald Green as a writer on “Defiance” and wrote episodes of “The Young Riders” and “Swift Justice.”

He also taught writing at UCLA and participated in numerous charitable events. 

HASLEY, William

Born: 7/?/1947, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Died: 6/7/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

William Hasley’s westerns – writer:

The Young Riders (TV) - 1990

RIP Julio Jung

 

Renowned actor Julio Jung dies at 84

biobio Chile

By Gerson Guzmán D.

June 6, 2026

 

At the age of 84, the actor, comedian and councilman, Julio Jung, remembered for his remarkable works of cinema, TV series and comedy, such as the classic Mediomundo, passed away.

His family confirmed the unfortunate news that mourns the Chilean cultural world.

Jung had a very extensive career, and in 2025 he received the National Humor Award.

In that instance he was recognized as one of the characters who managed to circumvent censorship in oppressive times.

"During the most complex years of the dictatorship, he was part of a generation that bordered on censorship and challenged power with irony and lucidity," they pointed out in 2025.

They also highlighted his career as an actor of multiple registers and a prolific career in film, theater and television, through which he made humor not only an expressive tool but also a field of artistic and political exploration.

Julio Jung is also remembered for his unforgettable duo with the also deceased Andrés Rillón, with whom he made an intelligent, historical comedy with high critical content.

In the middle of last year, Julio Jung Duvauchelle, his son, revealed that the actor suffered from senile dementia almost four years ago and that for that reason he was hospitalized in a care center for the elderly.

However, he remained active despite the difficulties, and continued to create until his last days.

JUNG, Julio (Julio Humberto Gonzalo Benito Jung del Favero)

Born: 3/21/1942, Santiago, Chile

Died: 6/6/2026, Santiago, Chile

 

Julio Jung’s western – actor:

Cherif – 2002 (Doctor Jung)

RIP Patrick Godfrey

 

Patrick Godfrey

'Ever After' Star Dead at 93

TMZ

Staff

June 6, 2026

 

Actor Patrick Godfrey -- best known for portraying Leonardo da Vinci in the 1998 film "Ever After: A Cinderella Story" starring Drew Barrymore -- has died.

Patrick passed "peacefully at home surrounded by his family" on Thursday, his talent agency announced in a statement. They added ... "Paddy was an exceptionally talented actor and a remarkable individual, and we will miss him greatly."

A cause of death was not revealed.

Patrick enjoyed a prolific career spanning nearly 70 years, which included roles in period dramas, novel adaptations, musicals, and more. Some of his notable projects aside from 'Ever After' include 1986's "A Room with a View," 1993's "The Remains of the Day," 2002's "The Count of Monte Cristo," and 2012's "Les Misérables."

He also scored TV roles in popular shows including "Doctor Who" and "Inspector Morse."

Patrick was 93.

RIP

GODFREY, Patrick (Patrick Lindesay Archibald Godfrey)

Born: 2/13/1933, Finsbury Park, London, England, UK

Died: 6/4/2026,

 

Patrick Godfrey’s western – voice actor:

Red Dead Redemption – 2010 {voice of The Local Population]

Red Dead Redemption II – 2018 [voice of The Local Pedestrian Population]

RIP Max Kleven

 

Max Kleven, Stuntman, Second-Unit Director on ‘Rollerball,’ ‘Batman Returns’ and ‘The River Wild,’ Dies at 92

A ski jumper from Norway, he also worked on ‘Naked City,’ ‘Silent Movie,’ the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy and ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.’

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

May 4, 2026

 

Max Kleven, the Norwegian-born stunt performer, stunt coordinator and second-unit director with credits including Our Man Flint, Rollerball, The Deep and the Back to the Future trilogy, has died. He was 92.

Kleven died Wednesday of heart failure at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, his family announced.

Early in his career, Kleven doubled for Paul Burke on ABC’s Naked City and for Glenn Corbett on CBS’ Route 66, and he served as the president of the Stuntmen’s Association of Motion Pictures in the 1970s.

Kleven did double duty performing stunts and directing scenes on several films, starting with Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and the sequel Come Back Charleston Blue (1972) and followed by Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Batman Returns (1992) and The River Wild (1994).

And as an actor on television action series, he showed up on everything from Rescue 8, Get Smart, The Big Valley, Combat! and The Invaders to Batman, Star Trek, Mannix, Kojak and Magnum, P.I.

Born on Aug. 16, 1933, in Trondheim, Norway, Kleven spent his early years on a farm with his mother, Jenny, and a cousin, Joni. He joined the Norwegian Merchant Marine as teenager and came to the U.S. in 1951; he said the moment he saw California’s sunshine and palm trees, he knew he never wanted to leave.

Kleven had been an accomplished ski jumper in his home country, and when he was spotted sliding down and flying off ramps in Sugarbush, Vermont, he was recruited to be a stunt performer. According to IMDb, the first movie he worked on was the Oscar best picture winner Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

Kleven did stunts for other films including Our Man Flint (1966), Murderers’ Row (1966), Who’s Minding the Mint? (1967), Charley Varrick (1973), Back to the Future (1985), Ruthless People (1986), Species (1995) and Wild Wild West (1999).

His résumé as a stunt coordinator included Book of Numbers (1973), Dillinger (1973), The Deep (1977), The Changeling (1980), Footloose (1984) and Sleeping With the Enemy (1991), and he was a second-unit director on Raid on Entebbe (1976), Runaway Train (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Part III (1990), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and Spider-Man (2002).

He even got to direct a handful of films.

Kleven’s family said that one of his career highlights came when Steven Spielberg told him, “I hire you to fix my movies.” (Kleven worked for the producer on the Back to the Future films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 1980’s Used Cars and 2000’s What Lies Beneath, among other features),

Survivors include his wife, Luz; his daughters, Valli and Céline; his son, Erik; and his grandson, Hunter.

KLEVEN, Max (Max J. Klevin)

Born: 8/16/1933, Trondheim, Norway

Died: 6/3/2026, Newhall, California, U.S.A.

 

Max Kleven’s westerns – assistant director, actor, stuntman:

The Big Valley (TV) 1965 (Dave Williams)

The Virginian (TV) 1968 (Halevey)

The Hard Man – 1957 (townsman)

Billy the Kid Versus Dracula – 1966 (Sandy Newman)

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys – 1969 [stunts]

Zandy’s Bride – 1974 [stunts]

The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox – 1976 [assistant director]

Almost Heroes – 1998 [stunts]

Wild Wild West – 1999 [stunts]

Back to the Future III – [assistant director]