RIP Augie Myers

 

San Antonio music icon Augie Meyers has died at age 85

Meyers’ distinctive Vox organ played key roles in hits by Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados. He also wrote the beloved SA jukebox staple ‘(Hey Baby) Que Paso.’

San Antonio Current

By Sanford Nowlin

March 9, 2026

 

San Antonio music legend Augie Meyers, known for fusing Tex-Mex and rock as keyboardist for trailblazing ’60s act the Sir Douglas Quintet and Grammy-winning supergroup the Texas Tornados, has died at age 85.

The bearded, ponytailed musician beloved for the distinctive reverb-drenched trill of his Vox Continental Organ died in his sleep next to his wife Sara, according to a statement shared on his Facebook page Monday morning.

Meyers, who lived in the Texas Hill Country town of Bulverde, was the last survivor among the four original members of The Texas Tornados. His solo hit “(Hey Baby) Que Paso” still draws singalongs on bar jukeboxes across the Alamo City and beyond.

Late Sir Douglas frontman Doug Sahm and Meyers were childhood friends who kicked around in various San Antonio musical groups until record producer Huey P. Meaux brought them together in 1964 to replicate the runaway success of a little band across the pond called the Beatles.

Meyers’ propulsive organ riffs featured prominently in the band’s hits “She’s About a Mover,” “Mendocino” and “Nuevo Laredo,” making him as vital to the band’s sound as Sahm’s voice.

“Our record was doing real good in England, and we did a show called Ready, Set, Go! and George and John and Paul [of The Beatles] came in and said, ‘How do you get your sound on your Vox? We can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Super Reverb,'” Meyers told the Current in 2015. “Next week all the stores in England had it.”

Meyers and Sahm rejoined forces in the 1990s with the Texas Tornados, who had surprise hits with “Who Were You Thinkin’ Of” and “Adios Mexico,” which widened the audience for San Antonio’s homegrown Tejano and conjunto sounds. Flaco Jiménez and Freddy Fender, both South Texas music icons in their own right, featured in the original lineup.

In addition to his work with the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados, Meyers released a total of 23 solo albums, often on his own labels, including Texas Re-Cord Co., Superbeet Records and White Boy Records.

Thanks to his singular approach to the Vox, Meyers also became a sought-after sideman, recording with musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan, Tom Jones, Tom Waits, Willie Nelson and rockabilly legend Gene Vincent. Indeed, Dylan praised the Sir Douglas Quintet in multiple interviews.

Fittingly, eerie, stabbing notes from Meyers’ Vox are loud in the mix on “Love Sick,” the opening track to Dylan’s acclaimed album Time Out of Mind.

MEYERS, Augie (August Meyers)

Born: 5/31/1940, Austin, Texas, U.S.A

Died: 3/7/2026, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

 

Augie Myers’ western songwriter, singer:

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada- 2005 [wrote, sings “9 Million Pictures”]

RIP Jennifer Runyon

 Jennifer Runyon 'Ghostbusters' Actress Dead at 65

TMZ

March 8, 2026

 

Jennifer Runyon -- the actress known for her roles in "Ghostbusters and "Charles in Charge" -- has died.

Her family shared the news in a Facebook post, writing, "This past Friday night our beloved Jennifer passed away. It was a long and arduous journey that ended with her surrounded by her family."

They added she will "always be remembered for her love of life and her devotion to her family and friends," ending the tribute with, "Rest in peace our Jenn."

No cause of death was disclosed, but the message alludes to a lengthy health battle.

Runyon appeared in the 1984 blockbuster "Ghostbusters" in the memorable psychokinesis experiment scene and built a steady career throughout the 80s and early 90s. She had a lead role as Gwendolyn Pierce on the fan-favorite sitcom "Charles in Charge," and also appeared on the soap opera "Another World," as well as series including "Quantum Leap" and "Murder, She Wrote."

Though she stepped back from Hollywood in later years, she remained a figure among fans of classic 80s film and television.

Jennifer was 65.

RIP.

RUNYON, Jennifer (Jennifer V. Runyon)

Born: 4/1/1960, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Died: 3/6/2026, San Juan Capistrano, California, U.S.A.

 

Jennifer Runyon’s western – actress:

Gunfight at Silver Creek – 2020 (Dr. Laura Barkley)

RIP Raoul

Raoul Lovecchio: addio alla voce dei western 

Nocturno

By Davide Pulici

March 8, 2026

 

For me, Raoul Lovecchio had always been equivalent to Fernando di Leo. He was one of his "loyalists", who from Colpo in canna (1974) onwards had accompanied Fernando in almost all the achievements that followed, up to Killer vs Killers. They were friends and fellow countrymen too, both from Puglia – Lovecchio born in Foggia, in 1939, Fernando in San Ferdinando di Puglia in 1932. Over time I had also appreciated Raoul's presence in a couple of films by Renato Polselli, first Delirio caldo and then Riti, magie nere e segrete orge nel Trecento. He also discovered that already in the sixties Lovecchio had trodden the sets, starting with I teddy boys della canzone, by Domenico Paolella and then in westerns, such as ... And the Time to Kill Came, written by Fernando di Leo and directed by Enzo Dell'Aquila. But Raoul was born in the world of music, as a keyboardist, and then as a singer and composer he had embellished numerous soundtracks with his notes and his beautiful voice, starting with Arizona colt by Michele Lupo, in 1966. Today, unfortunately, I learn of his recent death from a communication that reached the editorial office signed by Lovecchio's three children, Pina (Stella), Domenico (Denny) and Vincenzo (Viky).

"The Lovecchio family makes it known to all those who loved the songs, the soundtracks he interpreted and the films in which dad starred, that Ettore Lovecchio aka Raoul passed away on January 8, 2026. The funeral rite was held in Rome in the Church of the Holy Crucifix in Via di Bravetta 332. You will be pleased to know that the service was performed in full respect of his great artistic and human quality and that two famous songs accompanied his entry and exit from the Church. We have chosen among the many that saw him as a protagonist in his long career, two songs that represented his powerful, warm, vibrant and unique voice: the first is Arizona Colt from 1966 (Francesco De Masi Feat. Raoul) and the second is Tira 'a rezza, oj piscatore performed by Raoul in the XVII Neapolitan Song Festival – 1969. We know that many fans around the world still listen to his songs and see films and to them go the biggest heartfelt thanks from the whole family. If the memory of Raoul will remain forever it will also be thanks to you".

LOVECCHIO, Ettore Raoul

Born: 2/12/1939, Foggia, Puglia, Italy

Died: 1/8/2026, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Raoul Lovecchio’s westerns – singer:

The Relentless Four – 1965 [sings: “Ranger”]

Death at Owell Rock – 1966 [sings “Danny]

God Will Forgive My Pistol – 1966, 1969 [sings: “The Man Called Texas”]

The Man from Nowhere* – 1966 [sings: “Arizona Colt”]

Any Gun Can Play – 1967 [sings: “Stranger”, “Come Mai”]

The Moment to Kill – 1967 [sings: “Walk by My Side”]

Payment in Blood – 1967* [sing “Seven Men”]

Two Crosses at Danger Pass* 1967 [sings: “Without a Name”]

A Wreath for the Bandits – 1967 [sings: “La balata della carogne”]

Between God, the Devil and a Winchester - 1968 [sings: “Heart of Stone”]

Death Rides a Horse* – 1968 [sings: “Death Rides a Horse”]

15 Scaffolds for a Killer – 1968 [sings: “Will You be Mine”]

Hate Your Neighbor – 1968 [sings: "Two Friends"]

Heads or Tails – 1968 [sings: "Arizona’s Waiting"]

Kill Them All and Come Back Alone – 1968 [sings: “Gold”, “Come mia”]

Sonora* – 1968 [sings: “Maybe Somewhere, Maybe Someday”]

A Taste of Death* – 1968 [sings: “Who is the Man?”]

Tequila – 1968 [sings: “A Man Alone”]

Vendetta at Dawn – 1971 [sings: “Walk by My Side”]

RIP Alan Trustman

 

Alan Trustman, Screenwriter on ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ and ‘Bullitt,’ Dies at 95

After working on the Steve McQueen classics, the former attorney penned ‘They Call Me Mister Tibbs!’

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

March 6, 2026

 

Alan Trustman, who wrote the screenplays for The Thomas Crown Affair and Bullitt, back-to-back 1968 films that starred Steve McQueen in two of his most memorable roles, has died. He was 95.

Trustman died Feb. 5 in a Miami nursing home, his son, John Trustman, told The New York Times.

Trustman also co-wrote They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970), the crime drama that was directed by Gordon Douglas and starred Sidney Poitier as police detective Virgil Tibbs in the sequel to the Oscar best picture winner In the Heat of the Night (1967).

Trustman was working as a Harvard-trained corporate lawyer at a large law firm in Boston in 1967 when he acted on an idea to write a film about a bank heist. “I knew I could never write a book. But maybe I could write a movie,” he told author John Spooner years ago.

Through his college connections, Trustman found the name of a New York literary agent and pitched him his story, and it wound up becoming The Thomas Crown Affair. Directed by Norman Jewison and produced by Walter Mirisch, the movie shot primarily in Boston and starred McQueen as the dashing millionaire title character and Faye Dunaway as insurance investigator Vicki Anderson.

Five months after The Thomas Crown Affair premiered, Bullitt hit theaters, with Trustman and Harry Kleiner receiving screenplay credit for their adaptation of a 1963 novel by Robert L. Fish.

It was Trustman who suggested that Englishman Peter Yates make his U.S. directing debut on the thriller that features McQueen as San Francisco cop Frank Bullitt and one of the great car chases in cinema. (Trustman had admired Yates’ work on a chase scene in the 1967 film Robbery.)

Born on Dec. 16, 1930, in Brookline, Massachusetts, Alan Robert Trustman attended the Boston Latin School and The Phillips Exeter Academy and got a summer job at the First National Bank of Boston at age 15.

He graduated from Harvard in 1952 and Harvard Law School in 1955 and eventually went to work for the Boston law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish, where his father, Benjamin A. Trustman, was a partner. (His dad would serve as a director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.)

Trustman told Spooner that he pursued a career in the movies out of the boredom that resulted when his favorite NFL player, New York Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle, retired. “Suddenly, I have nothing to do on Sunday afternoons,” he said. “But I’ve had an idea for a long time about how to rob the First National Bank of Boston.”

He convinced Jewison to make the movie after taking him on a tour of the bank and showing him just how a robbery would work.

In a 2014 interview, Trustman said he “originally wrote Bullitt for New York City. But when producers Philip D’Antoni and Robert Relyea and McQueen wanted to shift it to San Francisco, I was ecstatic. I told them that back in the summer of 1954, I had worked there at the law firm of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro and was familiar with the city.

“I learned that when you drove a light car like a Ford downhill in San Francisco, as we often did at 2 a.m., it would take off and fly through the air as you crossed some of the intersections. When we were discussing Bullitt, I suggested a Mustang, which was still quite a new car model in 1968. Steve was ecstatic. He couldn’t wait to try it.”

Trustman retired from the law after Bullitt and was handpicked by Mirisch to write They Call Me Mr. Tibbs. He also was hired for the McQueen-starring Le Mans (1971) but got into a disagreement with the actor and was replaced by Kleiner.

He then co-wrote the screenplays for Lady Ice (1973), starring Donald Sutherland and Jennifer O’Neill, and Hit! (1973), starring Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor; wrote on two 1976 films, Crime and Passion and The Next Man; was a executive producer on The Tracker (1988); and adapted a Raymond Chandler story for a 1995 episode of the Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels.

He also wrote novels, taught screenwriting at Harvard, NYU and the University of Miami and traded currency.

In addition to his son, survivors include his fourth wife, Barbara, a psychiatrist whom he married in 2008; his daughter, Laurie; his sister, Patty; and 11 grandchildren. His third wife was Playboy magazine cartoons editor Michelle Urry; they were married from 1989 until her death in 2006.

TRUSTMAN, Alan

Born: 12/16/1930, Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Died: 2/5/2026, Miami, Florida, U.S.A

 

Alan Trustman’s western – screenwriter:

The Tracker (TV) - 1988

RIP Antonio Marsina

 

Cinema, actor Tony Marsina has died: his "villain" roles from Dino Risi to Ursula Andress

Cinema, actor Tony Marsina has died: his "villain" roles from Dino Risi to Ursula Andress

He died at the age of eighty in his Nardò, as a boy he moved to Rome where he caused a sensation first with photonovels and then with genre films

la Repubblica

by Biagio Valerio

March 6, 2026

 

He had a face and a look that Luchino Visconti would have liked. Antonio Marsina, known by his many friends as Tony, died today at the age of eighty. Blond, light eyes, tall, handsome and with a stately and even aristocratic bearing. Uncommon physical characteristics in those years and in the deep Salento that led him to move to Rome and become the protagonist of photo-novels that, at the time, were all the rage.

But it is as a film actor who also achieves great success in the roles of the "villain", as could happen especially in the very well-characterized films of the Sixties and Seventies. The trend of the so-called "genre films" welcomes him and makes him debut everywhere: the so-called "detectives", comedies, espionage and even westerns. Italian-style, of course, as per the great tradition of those years.

Some films see him as the protagonist and present on posters and flans. Small cult films are remembered among fans of "cinema bis" such as Keoma, with Franco Nero, or The Mountain of the Cannibal God, with a splendid Ursula Andress.

And then The Boy Who Knew How to Love, The Great Racket, Rolf, Unscrupulous, A Woman to Discover, Great Boiled Meat, Dagobert. Appreciated by directors who form the backbone of Italian genre cinema, think of Enzo G. Castellari and Antonio Margheriti, he has also worked with masters such as Mauro Bolognini, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Dino Risi

In more recent years, TV has rediscovered him by calling him into successful series but it is with thirty episodes of Vento di Ponente, from 2002 to 2004, that he has experienced a second artistic youth thanks to the role of Sebastiano Ghiglione, alongside Serena Autieri and Anna Kanakis.

Memorable, in the seventies, were the invitations to the Modern Cinema to the elderly mother who was reserved a place of honor in the gallery. And often the woman ended the vision in tears precisely because the role of the son foresaw a bloody end. But the historic manager of the theater, Luciano Leonardo, did not fail to celebrate the release of the new film with a specially printed poster: "with the participation of our fellow citizen Antonio Marsina".

In recent years, the actor had decided to return to his land to live in his most beautiful places, first the historic center of Nardò and then the Ionian coast, inseparable from his wife Lucia Bruni, who passed away only three months ago. Tomorrow morning at 10.30 am, in the city's cemetery, the blessing of the body and burial.

MARSINA, Antonio

Born: 1/12/1946, Nardò, Puglia, Italy

Died: 3/6/2026, Gallipoli, Puglia, Italy

 

Antonio Marsina’s westerns – actor:

My Name is Pecos - 1966

A Stranger in Town – 1966 (Aguila henchman)

Keoma – 1975 (Lenny Shannon)

 

RIP James G. Robinson

 

James G. Robinson, Producer and Morgan Creek Co-Founder, Dies at 90

The Baltimore native spearheaded such films as 'Young Guns,' 'Major League,' 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective' and 'The Last of the Mohicans.'

The Hollywood Reporter

By Chris Koseluk

March 6, 2026

 

James G. Robinson, the producer and co-founder of Morgan Creek Productions who was behind such films as Major League, Dead Ringers, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, True Romance and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, died Feb. 15, his family announced. He was 90.

Robinson, who had made his fortune in the auto import industry, and producer Joe Roth launched Morgan Creek in 1988, with Robinson staking $80 million of his own money to get things started. (The company also secured a $126 million line of credit from Signet Bank-Maryland.)

In the wake of the demise of such independent studios as the Cannon Group, New World Entertainment and De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, the partners agreed they would not distribute their films. They would fully finance the movies they produced, cover advertising costs, presell foreign video and television rights and leave it to others to get their films into U.S. theaters.

Morgan Creek had a hit right out of the gate with Young Guns (1988), about the early days of Billy the Kid. Starring Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips and Dermot Mulroney and directed by Christopher Cain, the Fox-distributed film was made for about $11 million — it was classified as a nonunion shoot — and returned $45 million at the box office.

The son of a professional golfer, Robinson was born in Baltimore on Dec. 16, 1935. At age 5, he and his family moved to Dundalk, Maryland. He attended Dundalk High School and then the University of Maryland in College Park.

Following a stint in the U.S. Army in Germany, Robinson returned in 1963 to Baltimore, where fate pointed him toward an opportunity. He had bought a used car overseas, and when it arrived, it was coated with what only can be described as a protective grunge. After futilely trying to remove the substance, he found a local business that specialized in this type of car cleaning.

With a partner, he bought the company and opened shop at Dundalk Marine Terminal to offer cleaning services for imported automobiles. Business boomed when auto importers started requesting additional services such as undercoating and retrofits of sunroofs and moldings.

In the mid-1970s, Robinson purchased a Subaru distributorship that was going bankrupt and built it into Subaru Mid-America Inc., a Chicago-based outfit that ultimately supplied the Japanese brand’s cars and parts to 94 dealerships throughout the Midwest.

He came to Hollywood in the late ’70s by orchestrating bridge financing for independent films. “There were people out there who had deals with the studios but didn’t have any immediate financing, and I would finance [their films],” Robinson told The Hollywood Reporter in 2007. “I didn’t come walking into town and say, ‘I want to be in this business.'”

Eventually, he began looking for movies of his own to finance, and Roth, then an up-and-coming producer, approached him with The Stone Boy. Robinson signed on as an executive producer, and the family drama, directed by Cain, hit theaters in 1984 with a cast that included Robert Duvall, Glenn Close and Frederic Forrest.

“He’s a risk-taker, but an intelligent one who takes calculated risks, most of which have paid off,” Marvin Riesenbach, an auto industry colleague of Robinson’s, said in a 1991 Baltimore Sun profile.

Robinson continued to dabble in Hollywood, putting money into the 1985 comedies Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Grunt! The Wrestling Movie. He joined forces again with Roth for the 1986 adventure film Where the River Runs Black, also helmed by Cain.

The Morgan Creek moniker was inspired by the great Preston Sturges comedy The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943). “We wanted an American name,” Robinson told the Sun in 1999. “Something that was very American and something that involved a well-known American director. ‘Morgan Creek’ is as American as you can get. … You never hear the word ‘creek’ anywhere else in the world.”

Roth departed in 1989 to become chairman of 20th Century Fox, but Robinson kept the momentum going with the quintessential baseball comedy Major League (1989), starring Sheen; David Cronenberg’s intricate thriller Dead Ringers (1988), starring Jeremy Irons; the Kevin Costner-starring Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991); True Romance (1993), written by Quentin Tarantino, just off Reservoir Dogs; and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994); which made Jim Carrey a movie star.

In 1996, Robinson was named ShoWest Producer of the Year.

“There’s a lot of things for me that go into choosing a movie. From the top: Is it a good script? Because if it’s not a good script, why don’t we just stop right here?” Robinson told THR in 2007. “I sit down with a lot of people. I don’t isolate myself in a vacuum. There is no simplistic formula. Let’s just say I think we’ll do fine around the world. OK, now can we cast it? Can we get the right director? Is the budget the right budget for this film? Everything is fluid. It’s story, director, cast.”

The Paul Mazursky-directed Enemies, A Love Story (1989) brought Morgan Creek three Academy Award nominations, and Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans (1992), starring Daniel Day-Lewis, won an Oscar for best sound.

Maximizing product potential, Robinson generated several sequels to Young Guns, Major League and Ace Ventura and in 1990 revived a fabled spooky franchise with The Exorcist III, followed by three other films and a Fox series reboot.

O ther features Robinson ushered to the big screen included Skin Deep (1989), Pacific Heights (1990), Freejack (1992), White Sands (1992), Diabolique (1996), Soldier (1998), American Outlaws (2001), The Good Shepherd (2006) and Georgia Rule (2007), on which he sparred with Lindsay Lohan, calling her a “spoiled child” who had “endangered the quality of this picture” in a letter.

In 2014, Morgan Creek struck a deal with the Roth-founded Revolution Studios to sell international distribution rights and copyrights to its film library for $36.75 million.

Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Barbara; children Michael, Patrick, Brian, David, Thomas and Beth; and grandchildren Blake, Meghan, Kaitlin, Aidan, Cali, Campbell, David Cameron and David Henry.

His son David, married to actress Susan Ward, followed in his father’s footsteps as a producer and eventually as president of Morgan Creek Entertainment Group.

Robinson never lost his love of Baltimore, raising his family in Lutherville, just north of the city. Though Morgan Creek had a Los Angeles headquarters, more often than not, he operated out of offices in his hometown.

“I love Baltimore,” he said. “I’d make all my movies here if I could. It all comes down to a matter of cost. If it was close, maybe a difference of a million between filming here and somewhere else, I would always choose Baltimore.”

ROBINSON, James G.

Born: 12/16/1935, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

Died: 2/15/2026, Lutherville, Maryland, U.S.A.

 

James G. Robinson’s westerns – producer:

Young Guns – 1988

Young Guns II – 1990

The Lasto of the Mohicans - 1992

American Outlaws – 2001

Young Guns: Dead or Alice - 2026

RIP Maria O’Brien

 

Maria O’Brien, ‘Protocol’ and ‘Matlock’ Actress, Dies at 75

The daughter of Oscar-winning actor Edmond O'Brien also worked as an acting coach on 'Days of Our Lives' for 15 years.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Carly Thomas

March 3, 2026

 

Maria O’Brien, an actress in Protocol and Matlock who also worked as an acting coach on Days of Our Lives, died Feb. 24. She was 75.

Her cause of death wasn’t immediately available.

Born in Los Angeles on Aug. 14, 1950, O’Brien grew up in a Hollywood family, as her father was Oscar-winning actor Edmond O’Brien and her mother was musical comedy star Olga San Juan. Following in her parents’ footsteps, she landed her first onscreen credit in 1963 on the TV series Sam Benedict.

She also appeared in the 1984 film Protocol, starring Goldie Hawn and Chris Sarandon, as well as Smile, Good Luck, Promised a Miracle, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Table for Five, False Arrest and In Sickness and in Health.

O’Brien’s television credits included Viva Valdez, The Love Boat, How the West Was Won, The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts, CHiPs, Quincy, M.E., Magnum, P.I., Good Morning, Miss Bliss, L.A. Law, Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, Murder, She Wrote, Nash Bridges, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, Suddenly Susan, Jack & Jill, Spyder Games and For the People.

Throughout her time in the industry, she acted alongside Melanie Griffith, Lily Tomlin, Angela Lansbury, Tom Selleck and many others.

Aside from her time onscreen, O’Brien also worked as an acting coach on the daytime dramas Sunset Beach and Passions. This led her to serve as an acting coach on Days of Our Lives for 15 years, a job she held until her retirement in 2022.

O’Brien also won a Drama-Logue award for The Maids by Jean Genet, which was performed at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Her father was one of the first celebrities to be diagnosed publicly with Alzheimer’s disease, and in 1983, she testified before Congress about the devastation of the disease. Her advocacy was instrumental in securing government funding for Alzheimer’s research at the time.

O’Brien is survived by her brother, actor Brendan O’Brien; three children, James Anderson, Danica Anderson and Sean Anderson; and her sister, Bridget O’Brien Adelman.

O’BRIEN, Maria (Maria Mercedes O’Brien)

Born: 8/14/1950, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Died: 2/24/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Maria O’Brien’s western – actress:

How the West Was Won (TV) – 1976 (Luisa)