RIP Sam Sherman

 

Samuel M. Sherman, Producer of ‘Satan’s Sadists,’ ‘The Naughty Stewardesses’ and Other Exploitation Films, Dies at 85

He and ill-fated director Al Adamson fed drive-ins with these kinds of movies — ‘Dracula vs. Frankenstein’ among them — starting in the late 1960s.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

September 30, 2025

 

Samuel M. Sherman, the writer, producer and marketing mastermind who partnered with director Al Adamson to squeeze success out of such low-budget films as Satan’s Sadists, Brain of Blood and The Naughty Stewardesses, has died. He was 85.

Sherman died Monday at his home in Freehold, New Jersey, David Sehring, his creative director, business affairs and sales agent since 2015, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Soon after Sherman and Adamson launched the production and distribution company Independent-International Pictures, they supplied drive-ins with such flicks as Satan’s Sadists (1969), Horror of the Blood Monsters (1970), Brain of Blood (1971) and Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971), starring Lon Chaney Jr.

The pair worked not just in horror but in such other areas as biker films (1970’s Hell’s Bloody Devils, 1971’s Angels’ Wild Women), Westerns (1969’s Five Bloody Graves, 1972’s Lash of Lust), sexploitation (1973’s The Naughty Stewardesses), martial arts (1974’s Dynamite Brothers), chase pictures (1974’s I Spit on Your Corpse, also known as Girls for Rent) and blaxploitation (1976’s Black Heat).

Severin Films co-founder David Gregory, who directed the 2019 documentary Blood and Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, noted that Sherman and Adamson were great at “retitling and reselling the same movie over and over [and] at changing a work-in-progress picture to cash in on a recent trend.”

In the 1996 book It Came from Horrorwood, Sherman told author Tom Weaver that most of his films were made for less than $150,000. His company also gave veteran Hollywood actors much-needed work, among them Chaney and John Carradine.

He and Adamson “had a wonderful relationship — like the brother I never had — and we enjoyed being together and working together,” Sherman once said. “Al always said that when we were both together in the same place (New York or L.A.), we always made great things happen.”

Born in New York on April 23, 1940, Sherman attended City College of New York, where he screened Flash Gordon serials and such films as the Boris Karloff-starring The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) for his fellow students. For a class project, he shot a short film in one day that he called The Weird Stranger.

While in college, Sherman worked as a film editor and as a writer/editor for James Warren, the publisher of such magazines as Famous Monsters, Wildest Westerns and Screen Thrills Illustrated, and said he came up with the idea of showing old Republic Pictures serials in theaters. Those wound up drawing huge audiences — and that, he claimed, led to the 1960s’ Batman show on ABC.

In 1962 on a work assignment for Screen Thrills Illustrated, Sherman visited Hollywood and first met Adamson, introduced to him by Adamson’s father, silent film star-producer Victor Adamson (known by his stage name as Denver Dixon). Two years later, he got into distribution with the elder Adamson to bring The Scarlet Letter (1934) back to theaters.

While working for Hemisphere Pictures in 1965, Sherman tried to secure distribution for Al Adamson’s first film, Echo of Terror. He couldn’t get it in theaters, but footage from that would be used for Blood of Ghastly Horror (1967), also known in various stages of production as Psycho A-Go-Go and The Man With the Synthetic Brain.

Sherman and Adamson realized they needed their own distribution company and in 1968 joined with former theater owner Dan Kennis to start Independent-International Pictures. Satan’s Sadists, about a ruthless motorcycle gang, was their first production, shot in California in 1968.

As was the case with Blood of Ghastly Horror, they often took films that Adamson had already shot, modified them and sold them. Sherman gave them catchy, easy-to-identify titles and marketed them with dynamic, often lurid campaigns.

“It was always my concept that if you have a very small budget, make the film different by very bizarre, crazy, looney elements — and this always worked,” he said.

As might be expected, Adamson and Sherman never won an Academy Award, but they did employ at least one future Oscar winner: cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Satan’s Sadists, Five Bloody Graves, Horror of the Blood Monsters).

“I grew up seeing his exploitation movies and wild and wacky trailer campaigns at my local drive-in the ’60s and ’70s,” said Sehring, a former American Movie Classics exec who helped Sherman’s films find new homes on Blu-ray and elsewhere. “Sam was quite a character — the ‘Broadway Danny Rose’ of the drive-in business.”

Along the way, Sherman amassed an impressive collection of 16mm and 35mm films and saw his memoirs, When Dracula Met Frankenstein: My Years Making Drive-In Movies With Al Adamson, published in 2021.

In 1995, Adamson, then 65, was murdered by his live-in contractor and found beneath his home in Indio, California.

Sherman’s survivors include his daughter, Stephanie. His wife of 52 years, Linda, died in November 2022.

SHERMAN, Sam (Samuel Morris Sherman)

Born: 4/23/1940, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 9/29/2025. Freehold, New Jersey. U.S.A.

 

Sam Sherman’s westerns – wrter, actor:

Five Bloody Graves – 1969

Lash of Lust – 1972 [writer]

Blazing Stewardesses – 1975 (gunfighter)

RIP Renato Casaro

 

fanpage.it

By Daniela Seclì

September 30, 2025

Renato Casaro, the illustrator who painted the cinema had bronchopneumonia, has died: his most iconic posters

Renato Casaro has died, the illustrator was known for his iconic film posters. He passed away at the age of 89, he was hospitalized for bronchopneumonia at the Treviso hospital. Loved internationally, he also had Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola among his admirers. His posters of cult films such as Dances with Wolves and Once Upon a Time in America.

The Jackal in Rome on the stage of Fanpage.it: between irony and current affairs with Gianluca Fru and Fabio Balsamo. Book your spot!

Renato Casaro, the illustrator was known for his iconic film posters. He died in Treviso, his hometown. He would have celebrated his ninetieth birthday on October 26th. During his long career he has established himself as the most famous Italian poster designer. He was also loved internationally. Among those who appreciated his works were Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola.

Renato Casaro was hospitalized for bronchopneumonia at the Treviso hospital, as reported by Ansa. For a few days his health conditions had become increasingly worrying, until his death occurred on the night between Monday 29 September and Tuesday 30 September. Casaro had taken the first steps of his career at the age of 17, designing the posters of the Garibaldi cinema in Treviso for free. His immense talent led him from there to the international scene. Casaro, in fact, has collaborated with the biggest production companies in Hollywood. Among his admirers also Franco Zeffirelli and Claude Lelouch.

Renato Casaro's most iconic posters. The illustrator who painted the cinema donated much of his production to the National Museum of the Salce Collection in Treviso, which has set up a permanent room dedicated to him, where it is possible to admire his works. Among the most iconic posters that bear his signature are The Name of the Rose, Once Upon a Time in America, Desert Tea, Papillon, A Bourgeois Little Small, They Call Him Trinity, Amadeus, The Last Emperor and many others. Among the awards received during his career, Il ciak d'oro as best poster for Dario Argento's Opera won in 1988 and for Bernardo Bertolucci's Il tè nel deserto won in 1991. In 1992 he was among the winners of the Jupiter Awards for best poster for Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves.

CASARO, Renato

Born: 10/26/1935, Treviso, Veneto, Italy

Died: 9/30/2025, Treviso, Veneto, Italy

 

Renato Cosaro’s westerns –European poster artist:

The Magnificent 7 - 1961

Geronimo – 1962

Buffalo Bill Hero of the Far West - 1963

A Fistful of Dollars - 1964

For a Few Dollars More – 1965

The Man Who Came to Kill – 1965

Outlaw of Red River - 1965

The Big Gundown - 1966

Blood at Sundown – 1966

A Few Dollars for Django - 1966

Go with God, Gringo - 1966

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966

The Bandits – 1967

Day of Anger - 1967

Death Sentence - 1967

The Stranger Returns – 1967

$10,000 for a Massacre - 1967

This Man Can’t Die - 1967

Vengeance is Mine – 1967

Bury Them Deep – 1968

If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death - 1968

One More to Hell - 1968

A Bullet for Sandoval – 1969

Five Man Army – 1969

The Price of Power – 1969

Stalking Moon – 1969

Have a Good Funeral… Sartana Will Pay – 1970

Dead Men Ride! - 1971

Hallelujah Returns – 1971

A Town Called Hell - 1971

Trinity is Still My Name – 1971

Bad Man;s River - 1972

My Name is Nobody – 1972

Young Guns - 1988

Dances With Wolves - 1990

RIP Hartmut Bitomsky

 

The DFFB mourns the loss of Hartmut Bitomsky

DFFB

September 25, 2025

 

It is with great sadness that we must say farewell to Hartmut Bitomsky. He was a student of the very first cohort of the DFFB, at first compelled to leave after one year, graduating in 1970 and ultimately returning as director of the DFFB from 2006 to 2009. A documentary filmmaker (“Der VW Komplex”, “Reichsautobahn”, “Highway 40 West”, “Das Kino und der Tod” or “Staub”, to name a few), film theorist and author (“Die Röte des Rots von Technicolor”), and an exceptionally keen observer of the world.

The DFFB owes Hartmut Bitomsky an immense debt of gratitude. Over the years, he shaped and inspired countless students and filmmakers, always approaching their work with openness and curiosity.

Hartmut Bitomsky passed away at the age of 83. Our heartfelt condolences go to his family and all those who shared his journey.

BITOMSKY, Hartmut

Born: 5/10/1942, Bremen, Germany

Died: 9/24/2025, Munich Bavaria, Germany

 

Hartmut Bitomsky’s western – self:

Go West, Young Man! – 2003 [himself]

RIP Claudia Cardinale

 

Claudia Cardinale, Enchantress of Italian Cinema, Dies at 87 

She shuttled between sets in 1963 to make Visconti's 'The Leopard' and Fellini's '8 1/2,' then starred for Leone in 'Once Upon a Time in the West.'

The Hollywood Reporter

By Jordan Mintzer

September 23, 2025

 

Claudia Cardinale, whose performances graced such Italian cinematic masterpieces as Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, has died. She was 87.

Cardinale died Tuesday in Nemours, near Paris, her agent, Laurent Savry, told AFP.

Cardinale erupted onto the international scene in the early ’60s and became, along with Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani, one of the most prominent Italian stars of her epoch.

With more than 130 feature credits and a handful of theatrical roles in her name, she worked steadily from her debut in her early 20s until her death. She won three David di Donatello Awards — Italy’s equivalent of the Oscar — for best actress and received an honorary Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival in 1993.

“I was a movie star from a very young age. But I don’t deserve any credit for that — it was a question of fate,” Cardinale wrote in her 2005 autobiography, Mes étoiles (My Stars). “There was always a lucky star watching over me.”

Although she always has been associated with Italian cinema, Cardinale was actually born in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, on April 15, 1938. She grew up speaking French, Arabic and the native Sicilian dialect of her emigrant parents, only learning Italian as an adult.

While studying at the Paul Cambon School in Tunis, Cardinale and a few classmates were cast in Frenchman Rene Vautier’s short film, Anneaux d’or, which eventually screened at the 1958 Berlin Film Festival, and she made her feature debut with a small role opposite a young Omar Sharif in Jacques Baratier’s Goha, which made it to Cannes that year.

But it was while attending the Venice festival in 1957 that Cardinale, who had been sent there after being elected the “Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia,” made her first big splash (wearing a bikini on the Lido helped). She received several offers from the Italian film industry and briefly attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, but, unhappy with the experience and desirous to become a schoolteacher, soon returned to Tunisia.

Her plans were derailed when, at 19, she was raped, became pregnant and decided to keep the child, giving birth to a boy she named Patrick. To ensure the child’s future and avoid the scandals involved with having a baby out of wedlock, she signed with Italian producer Franco Cristaldi, who told her to pretend Patrick was her little brother.

Cardinale remained under contract with Cristaldi for the next 18 years, marrying the producer in 1966. Under his guidance, she did much of her best work, beginning with a role opposite Vittorio Gassman and Renato Salvatori in Mario Monicelli’s classic heist comedy, Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958).

In 1960, she was cast as Marcello Mastroianni’s lover in Mauro Bolognini’s Il bell’Antonio. The drama took home the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and began a long collaboration between the actress and director, who worked together four more times. That year, Cardinale also co-starred in Luchino Visconti’s Milan-set epic Rocco and His Brothers, playing opposite Salvatori, Alain Delon and Annie Girardot.

The next year, she headlined Valerio Zurlini’s neorealist romance Girl With a Suitcase, playing a poor woman from the provinces in love with an earnest boy from the upper classes. The film, which premiered in competition in Cannes, earned Cardinale international renown as well as her first di Donatello award.

The year 1963 proved to be a watershed one for Cardinale, with the actress starring in three bona fide classics: The Leopard, 8 1/2 and Blake Edwards’ The Pink Panther, which would be her breakthrough role in Hollywood.

In The Leopard, she played Angelica Sedara, a beautiful Sicilian who falls in love with Delon’s progressive aristocrat, Tancrede Falconeri, as the country is engulfed in political turmoil during the 1860s. The film won the Palme d’or in Cannes and is widely considered to be Visconti’s masterpiece. (It returned to the Croisette in 2010 for the premiere of its 4K restoration, with the screening attended by Cardinale and Delon.)

While shooting The Leopard, Cardinale also starred in Fellini’s autobiographical epic 8 1/2, playing Claudia, the muse of Mastrioanni’s existentially challenged director, Guido. After premiering out-of-competition in Cannes, it won Academy Awards for foreign-language film and black-and-white costume design and in 2019 was ranked No. 10 on Sight & Sound‘s list of the 50 greatest films of all time.

In a 2017 interview with Le Monde, Cardinale recalled what it was like shooting back-to-back movies with Visconti and Fellini, often shuttling between the two sets:

“Visconti was precise and meticulous, spoke to me in French and wanted me to have long brown hair,” she said. “Fellini was chaotic and didn’t have a script; he spoke Italian to me, cut my hair short and dyed it blond. Those were the two most important films of my life.”

In The Pink Panther, Cardinale starred as the wealthy Princess Dala, whose priceless diamond becomes the target of an aristocratic jewel thief played by David Niven. Although her husky voice was dubbed for the role, Cardinale was praised for her work on the film, with Niven apparently telling her, “After spaghetti, you’re Italy’s greatest invention.”

Cardinale temporarily relocated to Hollywood and made several movies there, including Henry Hathaway’s Circus World (1964), in which she played the daughter of John Wayne and Rita Hayworth; Richard Brooks’ Western The Professionals (1966), also starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan; Alexander Mackendrick’s surfer comedy Don’t Make Waves (1967), starring Tony Curtis; and Joseph Sargent’s postwar thriller The Hell With Heroes (1968), with Rod Taylor.

Cardinale’s most memorable English-language role, however, came in a film directed by a fellow Italian: Playing a former prostitute and frontier widow who fights to protect her land against a ruthless railroad company in the epic spaghetti Western Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Cardinale gave a fiery performance for Leone that included a sadistic love scene with Henry Fonda.

“His wife stood behind the camera like a vulture, which completely paralyzed me,” Cardinale told Le Monde about shooting that sequence.

Indeed, Cardinale was rumored to be romantically linked with a number of leading men throughout her early career, including Delon, Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Steve McQueen. Yet she rarely spoke about her love life in public, only claiming in a late interview that she was “stupid” for having rejected the advances of Marlon Brando. “I never wanted to mix my private and public lives,” she said. “No flirting. No flings.”

After divorcing Cristaldi in 1975, Claudia began living with Neapolitan director Pasquale Squitieri, with whom she remained until his death in 2017. The two had a daughter, also named Claudia, and collaborated on a number of features, including I guappi (1974), Corleone (1977), Claretta (1984) and Atto di dolore (1990).

Cardinale worked steadily from the 1970s onward, nabbing another di Donatello prize for Luigi Zampa’s comedy A Girl in Australia (1971) and Italian Golden Globes for her leading roles in Claretta and Atto di dolore.

Highlights of the second half of her career included Marco Ferreri’s satirical Vatican-set drama, L’udienza (1972); Visconti’s English-language drama Conversation Piece (1974), in which she reteamed with the director and Lancaster; Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo (1982), in which she played a mistress brought into the jungle by her lover (Klaus Kinski in the title role); and Marco Bellocchio’s Henry IV (1984) as she teamed again with Mastroianni.

Alongside her prolific work onscreen, Cardinale starred in stage productions of plays by Luigi Pirandello (How You Love Me), Tennessee Williams (Sweet Bird of Youth, The Glass Menagerie) and Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), with Squitieri often directing.

She also had a brief career as a disco singer in the 1970s, releasing such tracks as “Love Affair” and “Sun … I Love You,” which were minor hits in Europe and Japan.

Cardinale appeared on the inside foldout of early releases of Bob Dylan’s legendary 1966 Blonde on Blonde album (he was an admirer) and caused a stir when she wore a miniskirt to a meeting with the pope in 1967.

In 2008, Cardinale was awarded a Legion of Honor in her adopted home of France, where she resided in the final decades of her life. In 2017, her dancing image — from a photo taken on a Rome rooftop in 1959 — graced the official poster of the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

Reflecting on her impressive career on the occasion of the poster’s release, Cardinale offered advice for the young actresses who followed in her wake: “Never take on a role that will hurt you or make you sell out,” she warned. “And refuse to accept the awful caprices of certain directors or any form of professional blackmail. Yes, you need to fight!”

CARDINALE, Claudia (Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale)

Born: 4/15/1938, Tunis, French Protectorate Tunisia

Died: 9/23/2025, Nemours, Seine-et-Marne, France

 

Claudia Cardinale’s westerns – actress:

The Professionals – 1966 (Maria)

Once Upon a Time in the West – 1968 (Jill McBain)

The Legend of Frenchie Kin – 1971 (Marie Sarrazin)

Twice Upon a Time in the West – 2015 (Claudia)

RIP Andre Landzaat

 

Amsterdam, Netherlands Arts Community Mourning The Passing Of Andre Landzaat

Ping Desk

September 21, 2025

 

Amsterdam, Netherlands Arts Community Mourning The Passing Of Andre Landzaat

We are deeply saddened to share the heartbreaking news of the passing of Andre Landzaat, a cherished figure in the Amsterdam arts community. Andre peacefully left this world today in the hospital, with his beloved partner Ed by his side. His departure leaves a void that will be felt by all who knew him, especially his students, colleagues, and friends.

Andre Landzaat was more than just a teacher; he was a guiding light for many aspiring actors and artists in Amsterdam and beyond. His dedication to his craft and his genuine care for each student set him apart. Over the years, Andre’s mentorship helped shape countless careers, inspiring a new generation to pursue their passions with confidence and integrity. His warm presence, insightful guidance, and unwavering support created a nurturing environment where creativity could flourish.

Throughout his life, Andre exemplified kindness, humility, and a profound love for the arts. His teachings went beyond technique; he emphasized the importance of authenticity, emotional truth, and compassion in acting. Many who studied under him speak of his ability to see potential and to bring out the best in everyone he mentored. His impact transcended the stage he touched lives and inspired change through his unwavering belief in human connection and expression.

 

LANDZAAT, Andre

Born: 4/7/1944, The Haag, The Netherlands

Died: 9/22/2025, The Netherlands

 

Andre Landzaat’s western – actor:

The Yellow Rose – 1984 (Klaus)

RIP Elaine Merk

 

Elaine Merk Binder, One of the Last Surviving Munchkins from ‘The Wizard of Oz’, Dies at 94 

Variety

By Jack Dunn

September 21, 2025

 

Elaine Merk Binder, one of the last surviving actors who played a Munchkin in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” has died, according to her daughter Annette Phillips. She was 94.

Binder auditioned for “The Wizard of Oz” in 1938 and was selected as one of the eight children who would dance and sing as part of the Munchkin ensemble.

“I tried out for the ‘Wizard of Oz’ Munchkins. For me it was scary. It was my first big call for girls from a major studio,” Binder recalled of the experience. “I was relieved when Bud told the dance director, ‘She’s O.K.’ I did not have to perform like the others did. And they selected me as one of the eight who would both dance and sing. We learned later that they had added girls to the Little People because they had the mistaken impression that the Little People were not athletic.”

During the song “Come Out, Come Out,” Binder was staged in the second little house up the steps. Just before they go into “Off to See the Wizard,” Binder can be seen as one of the eight dancers in a pavilion at the rear, wearing a dark green dress and hat. She was just 8 years old while filming on the MGM lot.

Before “The Wizard of Oz,” she performed in the “Our Gang” shorts.

The 2024 documentary “Mysteries of Oz” featured an interview with Binder about her memories of filming the historic movie.

Binder’s last film was “Nothing Sacred” with Carole Lombard and Frederic March. Although Paramount would later offer her a contract as a teen, she declined and went to study at Occidental College. She graduated in 1951 and later completed her master’s at Cal State Los Angeles in 1953 with degrees in music and education. She went on to study computer science and theology, and worked as a computer consultant for USC and First Interstate Bank.

MERK, Elaine (Elaine V. Merk)

Born: 12/19/1930, Colorado, U.S.A.

Died: 9/21/2025, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Elaine Merk’s western – actress:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – 1938 (schoolgirl)

RIP Sergio Salvati

THE OBITUARY OF THE RIGHTEOUS - SERGIO SALVATI, 91 YEARS OLD, VERY ROMAN, GREAT DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY WHO WAS ONE OF THE OPERATORS OF "THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY" AND HISTORICAL COLLABORATOR OF LUCIO FULCI - A GREAT PROFESSIONAL, IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS HE HAD BECOME THE HISTORICAL MEMORY OF ITALIAN CINEMA AND OF A PROFESSION, THE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, FUNDAMENTAL FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A FILM - HE HAS ALWAYS TRIED TO HELP ME AND ALL KINDS OF FANS IN THE WORK OF RESEARCHING STORIES AND CHARACTERS OF OUR GENRE CINEMA – VIDEO

Dagospia

Marco Giusti for Dagospia

September 18, 2025

Sergio Salvati, 91 years old, very Roman, great director of photography who, thanks to his experience as an operator and assistant in genre cinema of the 1960s, was one of the operators of "The Good the Bad the Ugly" by Sergio Leone, knew everything about the famous scene of the bridge that exploded before the start, as well as director of the second unit of "My Name is Nobody" by Tonino Valerii,

He specialized in horror and fantasy, first linking up with a director like Lucio Fulci, for whom he will shoot all his most famous films, "And you will live in darkness. The after life", "Zombi 2", "That villa next to the cemetery", "Fear in the city of the dead", and then to the international directors who tried to carry on the genre in the 1980s, giving life to titles such as "Ghoulies II" by Albert Band, "Ork" by John Charles Buechler, "Catacombs" by David Schoeller, "Transformations" by Jay Kamen, "Puppet Master" by David Scholler.

But he was also very active in advertising, he shot hundreds of carousels in the early 1970s, becoming the right-hand man of the English director Richard Lester for sensational series, Agip with Raffaella Carrà, Simmenthal with Tommy Tune, Oransoda, Cinzano, Mentafredda and Paolo Bianchini, which he will also follow in the cinema. A great professional, a security on the set, in the early 1990s he worked in the comedy produced by Aurelio De Laurentiis, "Christmas Holidays 90", "Christmas Holidays 93", "90s", all directed by Enrico Oldoini, but also in the films as a director of Christian De Sica, "Faccione" "Count Max", "Ricky and Barabbas".

In the last twenty years he had become a great historical memory of Italian cinema and of a profession, the director of photography, absolutely fundamental for the construction of a film. With the international rediscovery of Lucio Fulci's horror cinema, the name of Sergio Salvati had become absolutely cult among fans. Also because, with great kindness and competence, Sergio had been able to tell everyone the secrets of their cinema.

Born in Rome in 1934, the son of a film engineer, Adolfo Salvati, and a fashion designer, Carolina Pastori, he entered the world of cinema at the age of twenty. We find him in the early 1960s as a photography assistant on "Apocalypse on the Yellow River", operator on "The Road of the Giants" by Guido Malatesta, "The Loves of Hercules", "The Steppe" by Alberto Lattuada, "The Woman of the Lake", "The Sweet Ladies" by Luigi Zampa. The set of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" by Sergio Leone, with the direction of photography by Tonino Delli Colli, was the real professional turning point.

On "Medea" by Pier Paolo Pasolini he moved to the hand-held camera, for "My Name is Nobody" produced by Leone and directed by Tonino Valerii he is responsible for the photography of the second unit. The first film he signed as director of photography was the adventurous "Desert of Fire" by Renzo Merusi in 1971, followed by "Piange... the Telephone" by Lucio De Caro. In 1974 he met Lucio Fulci for "Il ritrono di Zanna Bianca", where he directed the photography of the shots of dogs and animals, and for the more authorial and crazy "The Four of the Apocalypse", a very successful horror western.

He will never leave him, becoming his eye. Despite Fulci's temper, he will shoot with him all his subsequent films, "Dracula in Brianza", "7 Notes in Black", "Silver Saddle", "Zombi 2", "Luca the Smuggler", Fear in the City of the Living Gead", "Black Cat", "And You Will Live in Terror - The Afterlife", "The House Next to the Cemetery", giving life to an absolutely original type of Italian horror that will have an immediate success with the public and will become an international cult in the following decades.

We also find him director of photography of "Ciao nì" by Paolo Poeti, the only film with Renato Zero, and of "Deep Sex", a soft (and hard) porn mess born on the set of "Zombi 2" at the behest of the producer, Fabrizio De Angelis, then moved to Rome to the direction of Marino Girolami and here and there completed by Salvati himself with Al Cliver, Venantino Venantini, Marcella Petrelli. He continued to work in what remains of Italian genre cinema in the 1980s, "1990. The Bronx Warriors" by Enzo G. Castellari, "Thunder", "Cobra Mission", and is recovered by small American horror productions for its great expertise in the genre.

He thus signs the photography of "Ghoulies II", "Ork", "Catacombs", "Puppet Master". The last horror he will shoot is "MDC – La maschera di cera", conceived by Lucio Fulci for Dario Argento producer and then shot, after Fulci's death, by Sergio Stivaletti. As long as he could, he always worked very hard. Also for TV series, such as "The Seventh Papyrus", produced by Ciro Ippolito, "Incantesimo", for short films of any kind. And he has always tried to help me and all kinds of fans in the work of researching stories and characters of our genre cinema, but not only, to bring to light skills and values.

SALVATI, Sergio

Born: 6/16/1934, Trastevere, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 9/17/2025, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Sergio Salvati’s westerns – cinematographer:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966

Three Silver Dollars - 1968

My Name is Nobody – 1973

Challenge to White Fang - 1974

4 of the Apocalypse… - 1974

Silver Saddle – 1978

Thunder Warrior – 1983 (co)

RIP Paula Shaw

 

Paula Shaw, Hallmark star and ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ actress, dead at 84

The New York Post

By Eric Todisco

September 17, 2025

 

Paula Shaw, the actress best known for her roles in “Freddy vs. Jason” and multiple Hallmark Channel movies, has died. She was 84.

Shaw’s passing was announced by The Max, a personal development workshop that she taught for over 30 years.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce Paula passed away peacefully on Wednesday Sept. 10, 2025 morning at 9:00 am,” read a statement on The Max’s website.

“Paula touched countless lives through The MAX, the Mastery, and her transformational work,” the statement continued. “Her legacy lives on in the communities she created and the lives she changed.”

The Esalen Institute, where Shaw taught The Max, posted a tribute to the late actress on Instagram.

“PAULA SHAW taught THE MAX workshops at Esalen Institute for over 32 years,” the tribute read. “A professional actor and former EST (Erhard Seminars Training) trainer, she developed this self-expression course, which became a rite of passage for Esalen staff and seminarians, and until today maintains a reputation as one of Esalen’s most edgy offerings.”

Shaw was also remembered by fellow Hallmark star Julie Sherman Wolfe.

“So sad to hear about Paula Shaw’s passing,” Wolfe wrote on her Instagram Stories. “We often chatted on Facetime after she filmed ‘Hanukkah on Rye,’ mostly about our shared heritage (and trying to figure out if we were related!)”

“We never found out, but it didn’t matter,” Wolfe added. “She will always be one of my honorary bubbies.”

Shaw was born July 17, 1941 in New York City. Her career in Hollywood began after she moved to Los Angeles to star in Gus Weill’s play “Geese.”

After becoming a member of the Actors Studio, Shaw appeared on television shows, including “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Three’s Company, “Lou Grant,” “Ironside” and “Barney Miller.”

In 1982, she starred in the musical comedy film “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” alongside Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton.

Come the 2000s, Shaw landed roles in “Reindeer Games” starring Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron, and “Insomnia” starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank.

Shaw memorably starred in the 2003 slasher film “Freddy vs. Jason” as Pamela Voorhees. She replaced Betsy Palmer in the iconic role.

From 2011 to 2013, she appeared in the Canadian sitcom “Mr. Young” as Mrs. Byrne.

Her Hallmark career began on the first season of “Cedar Cove” in 2013. She played Charlotte Jeffers, the on-screen mother of Andie MacDowell’s character.

Shaw went on to star in numerous Hallmark Channel holiday movies, including “Five Star Christmas,” “It Was Always You,” Debbie Macomber’s “A Mrs. Miracle Christmas,” “Hanukkah on Rye” and “Round and Round.”

SHAW, Paula (Paula J. Shaw)

Born: 7/17/1941, The Bronx, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 9/10/2025, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 

Paula Shaw’s western – actress:

Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1977 (Angela

RIP Marilyn Knowlden

 

Marilyn Knowlden, Famed Child Actress in Six Best Picture Nominees, Dies at 99

She was in 'Little Women,' 'Imitation of Life,' 'Les Misérables,' 'David Copperfield,' 'Anthony Adverse' and 'All This, and Heaven Too.'

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

September 16, 2025

 

Marilyn Knowlden, the busy child actress of the 1930s and ’40s who appeared in Little Women with Katharine Hepburn, Imitation of Life with Claudette Colbert, Les Misérables with Fredric March and in three other Oscar best picture nominees, has died. She was 99.

Knowlden died Monday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Eagle, Idaho, her son Kevin Goates told The Hollywood Reporter.

During a career in Hollywood that spanned just 1931-44 but included more than three dozen pictures, Knowlden collaborated with Colbert, Hepburn, Irene Dunne and Norma Shearer as her onscreen moms in Imitation of Life (1934), A Woman Rebels (1936), Show Boat (1936) and Marie Antoinette (1938), respectively.

A special relationship can develop with the actress who plays a child’s mother, even if that bond is temporary,” she told author Nick Thomas in 2016.

Another highlight for Knowlden included a turn as a younger version of Ann Sheridan’s character in the classic Michael Curtiz-directed Angels With Dirty Faces (1938), starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart.

Her other best picture nominees were George Cukor’s David Copperfield (1935), where she portrayed Lewis Stone’s piano-playing daughter alongside Freddie Bartholomew; Mervyn LeRoy’s Anthony Adverse (1936), starring March and Olivia de Havilland; and Anatole Litvak’s All This, and Heaven Too (1940), starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. None of her movies won the top Oscar, however.

Knowlden always worked as a freelancer, never under contract at any studio.

“Well, my father was very much in control of my career, and he didn’t want me to be under contract,” she told Danny Miller in a 2018 interview for Cinephiled. “I think one of the reasons is that if you’re a child under contract, you have to go to the studio school, and there goes your normal life. I think he was very happy to have things the way they were.”

An only child, Knowlden was born on May 12, 1926, in Oakland, California. When her dad, San Francisco attorney Robert Knowlden Jr., had a business trip to Hollywood in 1931, he brought his wife, Bertha, and her with him.

“On the second day there, just for fun, my father decided to call some of the studios,” she recalled. “I had been doing some little acting things in Oakland, and my teacher there had told my father that she thought I should be in the movies, so he thought he’d give it a try.”

Her fast-talking dad reached Paramount head of casting Fred Datig, who arranged for an interview that day. The part of Paul Lukas’ and Eleanor Boardman’s daughter in the early talkie Women Love Once (1931) was discussed, but Datig thought Knowlden was too young. However, she showed she was capable of handling many pages of dialogue.

Plus, Boardman “much preferred the idea of a 4-year-old in the part since she didn’t want people to think she was old enough to have an 8-year-old!” she said. And so, the blue-eyed Knowlden was hired the next day. (Her dad eventually put aside his law practice to serve as her full-time agent.)

Hours after she learned she got the job, Knowlden was in a car with her folks when it was involved in a crash in front of the Vitaphone Studios lot in Los Feliz. On the scene was actress Dolores Costello, the wife of John Barrymore, who escorted Knowlden to her dressing room and cared for her. (While she was just bruised, her mom suffered three broken ribs and a broken collarbone in the accident.)

During production on Women Love Once, director Edward Goodman took Knowlden to another soundstage to visit The Marx Brothers, then at work on Monkey Business (1931). “I loved that and ended up playing a duet with Chico on the piano,” she said. “He told me, ‘I’ll play this note and you play these notes when I nod to you.'”

Women Love Once would prove to be the first of her six films released in 1931, followed by The Cisco Kid, Husband’s Holiday, Susan Lenox — that one with Clark Gable and Greta Garbo — Wicked and Once a Lady.

She acted with Hepburn for the first time in 1933 in Morning Glory and Cukor’s Little Women, and in A Woman Rebels, she got to use a bow and arrow.

“Miss Hepburn promised me a dollar if I could hit a bull’s-eye,” she told Miller. “At the end of the film, she signed an autograph for me that says, ‘To Marilyn — Hoping that her archery improves. Affectionately, Katharine Hepburn.’ I cherish that to this day, especially since I found out later how rarely she would give her autograph.”

She and Rochelle Hudson shared the roles of Jessie Pullman in John M. Stahl’s Imitation of Life and Cosette in Richard Boleslawski’s Les Misérables (1935).

It got to the point where Knowlden hardly had to audition. “I went on very few cattle calls,” she said. “Usually I would just go on interviews where they were already seriously considering me for a part.”

She even had a doll in her likeness made of her.

KNOWLDEN, Mairlyn

Born: 5/12/1926, Oakland, California, U.S.A.

Died: 9/15/2025, Eagle, Idaho, U.S.A.

 

Marilyn Knowlden’s westerns – actress:

The Cisco Kid – 1931 (Annie Benton)

The Conquerors – 1932 (Frances Standish)

RIP Robert Redford

 

Robert Redford dead at 89 

Hollywood icon starred in classics spanning five decades of film

Fox News

By Stephanie Giang-Paunon

September 16, 2025

 

Legendary actor Robert Redford has died. He was 89.

"Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah – the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved," his representative told Fox News Digital. "He will be missed greatly. The family requests privacy."

The Hollywood icon was best known for classics like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting."

Before he became a rugged screen icon, Redford grew up in Santa Monica, California.

Born Charles Robert Redford Jr. on Aug. 18, 1936, the all-American heartthrob started out studying art and chasing a future as a painter before turning to acting, eventually landing at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Redford made early appearances on "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Untouchables" in the late '50s and early '60s. He also took his acting talents to the stage, landing a breakout role in Neil Simon’s "Barefoot in the Park" on Broadway in 1963.

In 1967, he reprised the role on screen alongside Jane Fonda for the movie adaptation.

During his illustrious career that spanned five decades of film, Redford became an Oscar-winning director as well as an activist.

After skyrocketing to fame in the ’60s, Redford dominated the ’70s box office with back-to-back hits like "The Candidate," "The Way We Were" and "All the President’s Men." He capped off the decade with an Oscar win for best director in 1980 for "Ordinary People," which also took home best picture.

Behind the camera, Redford elevated independent film. He took on gritty roles and built the Sundance Film Festival from the ground up.

What began as a training ground for undiscovered filmmakers in the mountains of Park City, Utah – where Redford initially planned to open a ski resort – quickly transformed into the most important independent film festival in the world.

"For me, the word to be underscored is ‘independence,’" Redford told the Associated Press in 2018. "I’ve always believed in that word. That’s what led to me eventually wanting to create a category that supported independent artists who weren’t given a chance to be heard.

The industry was pretty well controlled by the mainstream, which I was a part of. But I saw other stories out there that weren’t having a chance to be told and I thought, ‘Well, maybe I can commit my energies to giving those people a chance.’ As I look back on it, I feel very good about that."

By 2025, the festival had grown so large that organizers announced they would be relocating out of Park City.

Redford didn’t just play the leading man — he additionally took on politics with the kind of boldness that became his Hollywood signature.

In 1972, Redford took on an American political role in "The Candidate," playing an idealistic U.S. Senate hopeful whose idealism crumbled by the final scene. He delivered one of the most iconic final lines in political cinema, "What do we do now?"

Four years later, Redford starred as real-life Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in "All the President’s Men," diving headfirst into the Watergate scandal.

Meanwhile, during Redford's acting career, he shared the screen with Hollywood icons including Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Paul Newman.

While Redford pulled back from acting in the '80s and '90s to focus on directing and building the indie film scene, he still starred in several popular films. He acted opposite Streep in the 1985 drama "Out of Africa," and nearly 30 years later stunned critics in the survival film "All Is Lost" in 2013.

His other directing efforts included "The Horse Whisperer," "The Milagro Beanfield War" and 1994's "Quiz Show," the last of which also earned best picture and director Oscar nominations. In 2002, Redford received an honorary Oscar, with academy organizers citing him as "actor, director, producer, creator of Sundance, inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere."

Redford was married twice, most recently to Sibylle Szaggars. He had four children, two of whom have died – Scott Anthony, who died in infancy in 1959, and James Redford, an activist and filmmaker who died in 2020.

REDFORD, Robert (Charles Robert Redford Jr.)

Born: 8/18/1936, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

Died: 9/16/2025, Sundance, Utah, U.S.A.

 

Robert Redford’s westerns – producer, actor:

The Deputy (TV) – 1960 (Burt Johnson)

Maverick (TV) – 1960 (Jimmy Coleman)

Tate (TV) – 1960 (Tad Dundee)

Whispering Smith (TV) – 1961 (Johnny Gates)

The Virginian (TV) – 1963 (Matthew Cordell)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – 1969 (Sundance Kid)

Tell Them Willy Boy is Here – 1969 (Cooper)

Jeremiah Johnson – 1972 (Jeremiah Johnson)

The Electric Horseman – 1979 (Sonny)

The Horse Whisperer – 1998 (Tom Booker)

The American West – 2016 [producer, actor]

Dark Winds (TV) - 2025 (chess player) [producer]

RIP Patricia Crowley

 

Patricia Crowley, Star of TV’s ‘Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,’ Dies at 91 

She appeared on dozens of shows and was in such films as 'Forever Female,' 'There's Always Tomorrow' and 'Key Witness.'

Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

September 15, 2025

 

Patricia Crowley, who starred as the harried suburban wife and mother of four kids and a sheepdog on the 1960s NBC comedy Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, has died. She was 91.

Crowley died Sunday of natural causes in Los Angeles, her son, Jon Hookstratten, executive vp administration and operations at Sony Pictures Entertainment, announced 

Crowley was “introduced” to the movie world in the Paramount comedy Forever Female (1953), playing a perky young actress who wants the role of an ingenue in a Broadway drama that a veteran actress (Ginger Rogers) wants the playwright (William Holden) to retool for her.

The Pennsylvania native also appeared in two Martin & Lewis comedies, Money From Home (1953) and Hollywood or Bust (1956), the duo’s final film together; starred opposite Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in the Douglas Sirk melodrama There’s Always Tomorrow (1956); and played Jeffrey Hunter’s terrified wife in Key Witness (1960), directed by Phil Karlson.

Her survivors include her husband, television producer and executive Andy Friendly (Entertainment Tonight, Tom Snyder’s The Tomorrow Show), whom she wed in 1986.

Before that, Crowley was married to the late Ed Hookstratten, the powerful sports and entertainment attorney who represented the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Carson, Tom Brokaw and Vin Scully.

On Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which aired for two seasons and 58 episodes from 1965-67, Crowley portrayed Joan Nash, a newspaper writer who’s also the mother of four rambunctious boys (played by Kim Tyler, Brian Nash and twins Jeff and Joe Fithian) and wife of a college professor (Mark Miller). The family lived in a home that resembled a castle, and their giant sheepdog, Ladadog, created lots of mayhem.

Please Don’t Eat the Daisies was based on an entertaining 1957 book by Jean Kerr (the wife of famed drama critic Walter Kerr) and followed the popular 1960 movie version at MGM that starred Doris Day and David Niven.

Crowley later played the romantic interest of Lloyd Bridges on the 1975-76 CBS cop drama Joe Forrester, which emanated from an episode of the anthology series Police Story, and recurred as Emily Fallmont during the sixth season of the ABC primetime soap Dynasty in 1986. (Her run on the latter ended when her character, who was married to a senator and had an affair with his son, was struck by a taxi and killed.)

Crowley also portrayed the widow of home run king Roger Maris in the HBO biopic 61* (2001), directed by Billy Crystal.

Patricia Crowley was born on Sept. 17, 1933, in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a coal miner. She followed her older sister to New York City, who had landed a part in the chorus of Oklahoma! on Broadway, and attended the High School of Performing Arts.

While still a high school senior, Crowley made her Broadway debut in 1950 as the lead in the comedy Southern Exposure and stole the show in a live episode of CBS’ The Ford Theatre Hour opposite Jack Lemmon and Jack Albertson.

In 1951, the effervescent Crowley starred as a spoiled teenager on the ABC Saturday afternoon show A Date With Judy, which had been a popular radio program and then a 1948 movie that starred Jane Powell.

Later in the decade, she appeared in the Rosemary Clooney musical Red Garters (1954), the Tony Curtis boxing drama The Square Jungle (1955) and the Audie Murphy western Walk the Proud Land (1956). In 1954, she was on Sid Caesar‘s Your Show of Shows and the cover of Life magazine.

Crowley was a key asset at getting a TV series off the ground, guest-starring in the pilot episodes of The Untouchables in 1959 and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 1964.

Her appearances on television were many, with stints on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, 77 Sunset Strip, The Rockford Files, Friends, The Love Boat, Beverly Hills, 90210, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful and dozens of other shows.

Her last onscreen appearance came in the film Mont Reve (2012).

In addition to her husband and son, survivors include her daughter, Ann; son-in-law Robert; daughter-in-law Marion; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Donations in her memory can be made to Share Inc. or the Saban Community Clinic.

CROWLEY, Patricia (Patricia Margaret Crowley)

Born: 9/17/1933, Olyphant, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Died: 9/15/2025, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Patricia Crowley’s westerns – actress:

Red Garters – 1954 (Susan Martinez De La Cruz)

Walk the Proud Land – 1956 (Mary Dennison)

Bronco (TV) – 1959 (Amanda Stover)

Cheyenne (TV) – 1959 (Jenny Girard)

Maverick (TV) – 1959 (Ann Saunders, Lydia Lynley, Stephanie Malone)

Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1959 (Helen Martin)

Riverboat (TV) – 1960 (Joan Marchand)

Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) –1961  (Lydia)

Bonanza (TV) – 1963 (Julia Grant)

Rawhide (TV) – 1963 (Sara May Green)

The Virginian (TV) – 1968 (Pearl 'Angela' Van Owen)

Menace on the Mountain – 1970 (Leah McIver)

Alias Smith and Jones (TV) – 1971 (Meg Parker)

Return of the Big Cat (TV) – 1974 (Sophina McClaren)

RIP Stephen Forsyth

 

Toronto Star

September 15, 2024

DONALD STEPHEN FORSYTH Obituary

 

FORSYTH, DONALD STEPHEN Surrounded by the love of his friends and family, Donald Stephen Forsyth left this earth on Friday, September 12, 2025. Born in Montreal on September 22, 1938, to parents David Irwin Forsyth and Edythe Maxwell Forsyth, Stephen is survived by his sister Carlyn Bailey of Vancouver and predeceased by his brother David Forsyth. Stephen lived a full creative life. His artistic legacy as an artist, actor, musician, photographer, dancer, choreographer, composer, video artist, and poet is vast and beautiful. Stephen will be interred at Riverside Cemetery in Etobicoke, ON. A Celebration of Life will take place at a later date. If you wish to be notified of the arrangements, kindly email paolagiavedoni@gmail.com

FORSYTH, Stephen (Donald Stephen Forsyth)

Born: 9/22/1938, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Died:  9/12/2025, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 

Stephen Forsyth’s westerns – actor:

In a Colt's Shadow - 1965 (Steve Blaine)

Death at Owell Rock - 1966 (Lawrence White)

Blood Calls to Blood – 1968 (Angel/Andrej/Andrew Willoughby)

Roy Colt & Winchester Jack – 1970 [scenes deleted]

RIP Michael Dryhurst

 

Caruth-Hale Funeral Home

9/10/2025

Michael John Dryhurst, beloved husband, uncle and great uncle passed away on September, 9, 2025 at the age of 87 years. Michael was born on March 22, 1938 in London, England and educated in the British public school system.

Michael led a life rich in adventure, travel and accomplishments, starting at a very early age. By the time Michael was 8 years old he was a devoted fan of public transportation,specifically buses, and spent many subsequent years contributing photos and articles to Classic Bus, Bus Magazines, and to his many admirers. At 21 years old he acquired a bus that remains in operation today, along with 6 others that he located in different countries, thus saving from demolition.

By 17 years old, Michael entered the movie industry as a clapper loader, then proceeded through the different departments to learn his craft. He worked for over 30 years in the business and attained positions such as Producer, Director, production manager and camera operator. Michael was best known as a producer and worked on films such as Excalibur, Never Say Never Again, Superman, and Hope and Glory, to name a few. One of most illustrious moments of his career in film was receiving a Golden Globe for his work on the 1987 film Hope and Glory. He is the author of several scripts and one novel entitled "Check the Gate".

Later in life Michael moved to the USA, married his wife, Karen, and earned his US citizenship in October of 1993.

Michael is survived by his devoted wife, Karen; niece, Charlotte; nephew Nick and great nephew, Tom.

Michael was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and May Roberts Dryhurst and brother, Christopher Dryhurst.

A Celebration of Michael's Life will be held at Caruth Village Funeral Home on Friday, September 19th at 11:00AM.

DRYHURST, Michael (Michael John Dryhurst)

Born: 3/22/1938, London, England, U.K.

Died: 9/9/2025, Host Springs, Arkansas, U.S.A.

 

Michael Dryhurst’s western – assistant director:

Lawman - 1971

RIP Emmanuel Karsen

 

Death of Emmanuel Karsen, the French voice of Sean Penn and Norman Reedus

RTL

9/12/2025

 

The French dubbing world has just lost one of its great voices: that of Emmanuel Karsen, whom you heard in the films starring Sean Penn, and in the series The Walking Dead, via the character of Daryl, played by Norman Reedus.

The voice of Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Norman Reedus, the voice actor Emmanuel Karsen, a dubbing personality, died on Thursday of illness at the age of 62, his agent Audrey Pécôme announced to AFP.

Also an art director, with more than 250 films and series to his credit in front of and behind the camera, Emmanuel Karsen has also lent his voice to Ian Tracey or John Leguizamo and to many video game characters, including "Call of Duty".

A musician and singer, Mr. Karsen has performed for several years with his band "Les Heroics". He has also been featured in plays.

Emmanuel Karsen, whose real name was Emmanuel Bourdeaux, was the nephew of actor Dominique Collignon-Maurin, voice of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Son of the actress Mado Maurin and half-brother of Patrick Dewaere, Dominique Collignon-Maurin died at the beginning of August, also of illness, at the age of 76.

KARSEN, Emmanuel (Rmmanuel Bourdeaux)

Born: 3/23/1963, Paris, Île-de-France, France

Died: 9/11/2025, France

 

Emmanuel Karsen’s westerns – voice actor:

Winchester ’73 – 1950 [? DVD release French voice of Dan Duryea]

Tombstone – 1983 [French voice of Michael Biehn]

The Proposition – 2005 [French voice of Garry Waddell]

Sukyaki Western Django – 2007 [French voice of Teruyuki Kagawa]

Appaloosa – 2008 [French voice of Luce Rains]

Hell on Wheels (TV) -0 2011 [French voice of Bolen]

Django Unchained – 2013 [French voice Cooper Huckabee]

Godless (TV) – 2017 [French voice of wanderer hiding in cabin]

Westworld (TV) 2016-2018 [French voice of Bradley Fisher]

 

RIP José Antonio Félez

 

el Diario

September 10, 2025

 

Film producer José Antonio Félez, responsible for 'La isla mínima' and 'Primos', dies 

The filmmaker was 71 years old and had won a Goya Award throughout his career.

Film producer José Antonio Félez, winner of the Goya Award for Best Film for La isla mínima, died on Tuesday at the age of 71, according to the Andalusian Association of Film Producers (Ancine) on Wednesday. “We deeply regret the death of producer José Antonio Félez, who, along with our Andalusian creators and producers (Gervasio Iglesias, Alberto Rodríguez, Santi Amodeo, Rafael Cobos, etc.), was behind works such as El hijo zurdo, La isla mínima, and Astronautas, among others,” Ancine stated on its X profile.

Screenwriter and film director Daniel Sánchez Arévalo expressed his sorrow for Félez's passing on his Instagram profile, writing: "My older brother, my partner, my discoverer, my producer. Five films and one series together. More than twenty years together. You guided me, taught me, let me fly, picked me up when I fell. You gave me a profession. You were my creator, from calm, from composure, from reason."

Born in Madrid in 1954, José Antonio Félez has been responsible for the executive production of titles such as Diecisiete, La isla mínima, La peste, and Primos, and among his accolades was the Gold Medal at the 27th José María Forqué Awards.

With a law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and a PDG from IESE, his first experience in the audiovisual sector was as deputy to the CEO of CBS/FOX in Spain in the late 1980s.

Between 1995 and 1998, he collaborated with Elías Querejeta and Prime Films on production, marketing, and organization tasks. During those years, he served as General Secretary of the Spanish Videographic Union, the national association of publishers and distributors, as well as General Secretary of the Association of Entertainment Software Distributors and Publishers (ADESE).

Between 2012 and 2018, he was president of the Spanish National Association of Film Producers (AECine). Félez debuted as an executive producer in 1998 with Eduardo Mignogna's El faro del sur, which won the Goya Award for Best Spanish-Language Film.

That same year, he founded Tesela Producciones Cinematográficas, which launched its debut in 2000 with the films A galope tendido (A gallop tendido) by Julio Suárez Vega; El factor Pilgrim (The Pilgrim Factor), the feature film directorial debut by Santi Amodeo and Alberto Rodríguez; and the acclaimed El Bola (The Ball) by Achero Mañas, with whom he collaborated again in Noviembre (2003).

He also produced Daniel Sánchez Arévalo's debut feature, AzulOscuroCasiNegro, which garnered more than 50 awards at festivals around the world, including three Goya Awards, three Biznagas at the Málaga Film Festival, and two accolades at the Venice Film Festival; and Gordos in 2009.

With Alberto Rodríguez and Rafael Cobos, his screenwriter and frequent collaborator, he created films such as Grupo 7 (2012), La isla mínima (2014), and the political thriller El hombre de las mil caras (2016), as well as the series La peste (2017), and later, in 2022, the series Las de la última fila (The Last Row) and the film Modelo 77, co-produced with Movistar+.

FELEZ, José Antonio

Born: 12/31/1953, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Died: 9/9/2025, Spain

 

José Antonio Félez’s western – producer:

At Full Gallop - 2000

RIP Ted Mann

 

Ted Mann, Writer and Producer on ‘NYPD Blue,’ ‘Deadwood’ and ‘Homeland,’ Dies at 72

He worked on the Robert Altman film ‘O.C. and Stiggs,’ then won an Emmy for one of his frequent collaborations with David Milch.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

September 9, 2025

 

Ted Mann, the writer and Emmy-winning producer who teamed with David Milch on NYPD Blue, Deadwood, John From Cincinnati and three other TV series, has died. He was 72.

Mann died Thursday at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica after a battle with lung cancer, his daughter Lucy Bujold told The Hollywood Reporter.

Mann also was a producer and writer on the fifth, sixth and seventh seasons (2015-18) of Showtime’s Homeland.

The Vancouver native co-wrote the screenplays for the big-screen comedies O.C. and Stiggs (1985), directed by Robert Altman and based on stories Mann wrote for National Lampoon magazine, and Space Truckers (1996), directed by Stuart Gordon.

On ABC’s NYPD Blue, Mann had producing credits on 42 episodes during the show’s first two seasons (1993-95) and 18 writing credits on seasons one, two, five and six; wrote and produced on HBO’s Deadwood from 2004-06 during its three seasons; and wrote and produced on HBO’s John From Cincinnati during its lone season in 2007.

Mann received his Emmy (shared with Milch, Steven Bochco and others) in 1995 for outstanding drama series and landed other noms in the premiere category for Deadwood in 2005 and Homeland in 2016.

Mann and Milch had written for the 1991-93 ABC legal drama Civil Wars, for the 1997-98 CBS cop show Brooklyn South and for the 1997 ABC crime drama Total Security. (Like NYPD Blue, Bochco was involved with all three of those shows as a producer and/or creator.)

Born on Oct. 24, 1952, Mann worked for a magazine in Canada before becoming a writer and editor at National Lampoon. He segued into TV by writing for two 1979 projects that came from the magazine: the HBO telefilm Disco Beaver From Outer Space and the ABC comedy Delta House, a spinoff of Animal House.

His writing and/or producing credits also included Miami Vice, Millennium, Total Recall 2070, Skin, Judging Amy, Crash, Hatfields & McCoys and Magic City.

In addition to his daughter, survivors include his second wife, Bly (they were partners for 42 years and married in 1988); another daughter, Elizabeth; a son, James; siblings Bayne and Tish; and grandchildren Virginia, Graham and Magnus.

MANN, Ted (Theodore Mann)

Born: 10/24/1952, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada

Died: 9/9/2025, Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

 

Ted Mann’s westerns – actor, writer producer:

Deadwood (TV) – 2004-2007 (Rutherford) [writer, producer]

Hatfields & McCoys (TV) – 2012 [writer]

RIP Stuart Craig

 

Stuart Craig, Oscar-winning production designer on The English Patient and Harry Potter, dies aged 83

In a glittering career spanning more than four decades his vision contributed to some of the most memorable worlds in cinematic history

The Guardian

By Andrew Pulver

September 9, 2025

 

Stuart Craig, the multi-Oscar winning production designer for The English Patient, The Elephant Man and the Harry Potter films, has died aged 83.

His family told the Guardian he had died peacefully at home on Sunday after 14 years with Parkinson’s disease. “Our beloved husband and father, deeply loved and respected, was not only known for his talent but also for his kindness and we are moved by hearing of how many lives he touched. He will live on in our hearts forever.”

Craig worked on a glittering array of high-profile British and Hollywood films from the early 1980s onwards, winning best art direction Oscars for Gandhi, Dangerous Liaisons and The English Patient and was nominated for eight more, including for four Potters. His record at the Baftas was even more impressive: 16 nominations and three wins.

David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter series, said: “Stuart Craig was one of the greatest production designers to work in film. He was also the kindest, most generous and supportive man. He had exquisite taste and a wonderful sense of story. He also had the extraordinary ability to bring out the very best in everyone around him. It was a privilege to work with him, and to be in his orbit.” David Yates, director of the final four Potter films, said: “Stuart was a dear friend and colleague: he was a giant in our industry, graceful, talented, stubborn and always nurturing and supporting emerging design talent. We will all miss him a great deal.”

David Puttnam, who collaborated with Craig on The Mission, Cal and Memphis Belle said: “Not only was Stuart the most inventively gifted production designer of his generation, but as a man and a departmental head he certainly ranks among the most exemplary collaborators I ever had the privilege of working with. Stuart generated the most incredible sense of loyalty among his team, something which sprung naturally from a debt he felt he owed to those with whom he’d worked, and who had helped him, early in his career. Losing Stuart is a very sad day for the whole of the British film industry – he and his influence will be massively missed.”

Born in Norwich in 1942, Craig studied film design at the Royal College of Art before working in the art department on a variety of films in the 60s and 70s, including the Bond spoof Casino Royale, the Albert Finney musical Scrooge, and the George Macdonald Fraser adaptation Royal Flash. Craig established himself as an art director on the war epic A Bridge Too Far and superhero flick Superman, before making his breakthrough as production designer on The Elephant Man, David Lynch’s brilliantly atmospheric fable of Victorian London.

The latter film secured his first Oscar nomination, and Craig followed it up by reuniting with A Bridge Too Far director Richard Attenborough on the latter’s long-gestating Gandhi biopic. Conceived on a colossal scale (with the funeral scene alone estimated to have 300,000 extras), it won Craig his first Oscar, one of the film’s total haul of eight, including best picture and best director for Attenborough.

Craig went on to play a crucial role in some of the most successful and high-profile films of the subsequent four decades, becoming best known for lavish period sets rendered in sumptuous detail. After Gandhi, he designed The Mission for director Roland Joffé, won his second Oscar for 18th-century-set Dangerous Liaisons, and worked with Attenborough again on Chaplin, another biopic. In 1997 Craig’s achieved possibly his high point in serious period drama, winning his third Oscar for The English Patient, adapted from Michael Ondaatje’s novel. Shortly thereafter Craig completed probably his best known non-period film: the Richard Curtis romcom Notting Hill.

Craig was then hired for what is likely to remain his outstanding achievement, designing all eight Harry Potter films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, directed by Chris Columbus and released in 2001. He later told the Guardian: “I was decorating a bedroom for my as-yet-unborn grandson when I got the call to come to Los Angeles and meet David and Chris. I read the novel on the plane over. My first reaction was fright: ‘How the hell are we going to do this?’” He and his crew took over Leavesden studios, a repurposed former aerodrome, and the studio became renowned for the dizzying variety of sets and workshops that Craig built. Heyman said: “Stuart Craig was vital to the films’ success, no question. Hogwarts is his creation, his vision.” After the films finished production, Craig was asked to design the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme parks and continued his collaboration with the Potter film franchise by designing the three Fantastic Beasts films, released between 2016 and 2022.

Craig’s most valued collaborator was set decorator Stephenie McMillan, whom he worked with on 16 films, beginning with Chaplin and taking in The English Patient, Notting Hill and all the Potter films. On McMillan’s death in 2013, Craig wrote: “Her work was always characterised by technical finesse, elegance and wit.”

Craig was married to Patricia Stangroom in 1965, who survives him along with two children, Becky and Laura, and four grandchildren.

CRAIG, Stuart (Norman Stuart Craig)

Born: 4/14/1942, Norwich, Norfolk, England, U.K.

Died: 0/7/2025, Windsor, Berkshire, England, U.K.

 

Stuart Craig’s western – art department:

Butch and Sundance: The Early Days - 1979

RIP Ed Faulkner

 

Edward Faulkner, Actor in John Wayne and Elvis Presley Films, Dies at 93

The Kentucky native worked often with director Andrew V. McLaglen and did lots of Westerns on screens big and small.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

September 8, 2025

 

Edward Faulkner, the familiar character actor who received a career jump start from director Andrew V. McLaglen en route to appearing in McLintock!, Rio Lobo, The Green Berets and three other films with John Wayne, has died. He was 93.

Faulkner died Aug. 26 of natural causes at a health care facility in Vista, California, his daughter Leslie Wadsworth told The Hollywood Reporter.

A strapping 6-foot-3, the amiable Kentucky native put his horse-riding skills to the test on several TV Westerns, including Have Gun — Will Travel (13 episodes from 1958-62); Gunsmoke (six episodes from 1959-72); Rawhide (seven episodes from 1959-64); Bonanza (three episodes from 1961-66) and The Virginian (11 episodes from 1963-70).

He made his big-screen debut in G.I. Blues (1960), then portrayed fitness instructor Brad Bentley in another Elvis Presley movie, Tickle Me (1965).

Faulkner worked alongside Wayne in McLintock! (1963), The Green Berets (1968), Hellfighters (1968), The Undefeated (1969), Rio Lobo (1970) and Chisum (1970). All but two of those movies were directed by McLaglen.

Onscreen, he said in a 2019 interview, he “never won a fight … I was always the bad guy.”

The youngest of two children, Fielden Edward Faulkner II was born on a Leap Day — Feb. 29, 1932 — in Lexington, Kentucky. His father owned a building supply company, and his mother, Ferie June, was a music teacher.

He and a friend partnered in a comedy song-and-dance act while at Henry Clay High School, and he attended the University of Virginia and the University of Kentucky, where he acted in plays before graduating in 1954.

After two years as a fighter pilot with the U.S. Air Force, Faulkner moved to Los Angeles in 1958 to pursue acting. He was introduced to McLaglen, then a staff director at CBS, and quickly put into an episode of Have Gun — Will Travel, starring Richard Boone. (He got the going day rate — $80.)

McLaglen also directed him on TV on Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Everglades!, Wagon Train and The Lieutenant and in such other films as The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1961), Shenandoah (1965), The Ballad of Josie (1967) and Something Big (1971).

Faulkner said he played chess hundreds of times with Wayne — “I occasionally let him win,” he said with a laugh — and they once kept a flight idling at the gate, as the plane’s captain was reluctant to interrupt their game.

Plus, after spotting Faulkner’s three daughters, Jan, Barbara and Leslie, on the sidelines during filming of The Undefeated in Mexico, Wayne yelled for wardrobe and put the young girls in the movie.

When he heard about The Green Berets, Faulkner sent a note to Wayne, he told host Rob Word in 2015, writing: “Like yourself, I’ve worn a Stetson long enough. Perhaps a change of hats, maybe a beret.”

A week or so later, word got out he was being cast in the war film, where he would portray Capt. MacDaniel.

Faulkner’s résumé also included the features How to Murder Your Wife (1965), The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966), Nobody’s Perfect (1968), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), Hang Your Hat on the Wind (1969) and The Man (1972) and the TV shows Dragnet, Lassie, Gilligan’s Island, Mod Squad, The Fugitive, It Takes a Thief, Cannon, Adam-12 and The Six Million Dollar Man.

In 1976, Faulkner took a break from acting and for the next dozen or so years worked for a company that leased cargo containers to the marine transportation industry and owned and operated hotels worldwide.

In addition to his daughters, survivors include his son, Edward III, and his grandchildren, Tyler, Wyatt, Steven, Olivia and Brooke.

His high-school sweetheart and wife of nearly 60 years, Barbara — they starred together in plays in high school and in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in college — died in May 2013.

“Offscreen, Faulkner never lost his boyhood love of magic, delighting friends and family with sleight-of-hand and illusions throughout his life,” his family noted. “Colleagues and loved ones alike remembered him for his kindness and genuine warmth — qualities that defined him as much as his body of work.”

FAULKNER, Ed (Fielden Edward Faulkner II)

Born: 2/29/1932, Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.

Died: 8/26/2025, Vista, California, U.S.A.

 

Ed Faulkner’s westerns – actor:

Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1958-1962 (Jim Goodfellow, gunslinger, marshal, Bud McPhater, Harden, Lieutenant Brager, Ben)

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1959-1972 (cowboy, Harry, Trask, Barkley)

Rawhide (TV) 1959-1966 (Brett Mason, Lobey, Rutledge, Carl Gault, Cryder, deputy, Bob Stevens,m Casey)

Hotel de Paree (TV) – 1960 (deputy sheriff)

Bonanza (TV) – 1961 (Casey Rollins, bank robber, Bob Stevens)

Gunslinger (TV) – 1961 (corporal)

Lawman (TV) – 1961 (Corporal Hayden)

McLintock! – 1963 (young Ben Sage)

Laramie (TV) – 1963 (Cliff)

The Virginian (TV) – 1963 (gambler, Striker, Bert, Tom Landers, Blaylock, Procter, Packer, Matt Clayton)

Destry (TV) – 1964 (Foggy)

Shenandoah – 1965 (Uinon sergeant)

The Loner (TV) – 1965 (bounty hunter)

Wagon Train (TV) – 1965 (minister)

The Monroes (TV) – 1966 (Ferris)

The Ballad of Josie – (livery man)

Iron Horse (TV) – 1967 (Jess Sinclair)

Laredo (TV) – 1967 (Ed Garmes)

The Shakiest Gun in the West – 1968 (Huggins)

Cimarron Horse (TV) – 1968 (captain)

The Outcasts (TV) – 1969 (Willis)

This Savage Land (TV) – 1969 (stage driver)

The Undefeated (TV) – 1969 (Anderson)

Chisum – 1970 (James J. Dolan)

Rio Lobo – 1970 (Lieutenant Harris)

Scandalous John – 1971 (Hillary)

Something Big – 1971 (Captain Tyler)

Bearcats (TV) – 1971 (Mills)

Nichols (TV) – 1972 (Randall)

Hard Ground (TV) – 2003