RIP Nick Glennie-Smith

 

Movie Musi UK

August 19, 2026

 

Nick Glennie-Smith, 1951-2026

Composer, conductor and musician Nick Glennie-Smith died on August 17, 2026, at his home in Los Angeles after a period of ill-health. He was 74 years old. 

One of the key figures in the development of the modern Hollywood action score, Glennie-Smith enjoyed a career spanning pop music, film, television and live performance. He was best known for The Rock, The Man in the Iron Mask, We Were Soldiers and Secretariat, as well as for his decades-long association with Hans Zimmer as composer, conductor and musical director.

Nicholas Glennie-Smith was born in London, England, on October 3, 1951. He began his professional career as a keyboard player, joining the progressive-rock group Wally in the 1970s and later performing or recording with artists including Leo Sayer, Cliff Richard, Roger Daltrey and Paul McCartney. He also worked with Roger Waters on When the Wind Blows and Radio K.A.O.S., and performed at Waters’s enormous 1990 production of The Wall in Berlin.

During the late 1980s Glennie-Smith became associated with Stanley Myers, and then subsequently with Hans Zimmer’s Media Ventures studio, which saw him relocate from the UK to Los Angeles. Initially he contributed additional music, conducting, keyboard performances, arrangements and orchestrations to films including K2, Cool Runnings, The House of the Spirits, The Lion King, Bad Boys, Crimson Tide and Beyond Rangoon. His combination of orchestral technique, electronic programming and practical experience as a performing musician made him particularly suited to the rapidly developing Media Ventures sound.

His breakthrough came with Michael Bay’s The Rock (1996), on which Glennie-Smith, Zimmer and Harry Gregson-Williams shared principal composing duties. The score’s pounding percussion, massed brass, synthesizers and broad heroic themes became hugely influential on Hollywood action music of the following decade and established Glennie-Smith as a composer in his own right.

He followed with Fire Down Below and Home Alone 3 in 1997 before writing one of his finest scores for Randall Wallace’s The Man in the Iron Mask (1998). Its sweeping themes, large orchestra and mixture of romance, tragedy and adventure gave Glennie-Smith an opportunity to work on a grand symphonic scale. The same year he scored Disney’s The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, revealing a warmer and more lyrical side of his musical personality.

Wallace reunited with Glennie-Smith for We Were Soldiers (2002), perhaps the composer’s most emotionally powerful score. Written for orchestra, chorus and distinctive ethnic instruments, the music combined martial intensity with elegiac writing for the soldiers and their families. Glennie-Smith later worked with Wallace again on Heaven Is for Real (2014).

Other major assignments included Highlander: Endgame (2000), the television epic Attila (2001), Ella Enchanted (2004), A Sound of Thunder (2005), the Hungarian historical drama Children of Glory (2006) and Disney’s Secretariat (2010). He also composed extensively for the French historical theme park Puy du Fou, developing large-scale music for several of its spectacular productions.

Glennie-Smith remained equally important behind the podium. He conducted scores for films including the Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers series, The Simpsons Movie, X-Men: First Class, Rango and numerous other productions associated with Zimmer and his collaborators. In 2012 he conducted the orchestra for the Academy Awards ceremony, and later served as musical director for Hans Zimmer’s enormously successful live concerts.

Glennie-Smith was married to his wife Jan for more than three decades, and the couple had four children. His son, Seth Glennie-Smith, is also a music editor and composer.

GLENNIE-SMITH, Nick (Nicholas Hugh Glennie-Smith)

Born: 10/3 1951, London, England, U.K.

Died: 8/17/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Nick Glennie-Smith’s westerns – music department:

Rango – 2011

The Lone Ranger - 2013

RIP John Irvin

 

John Irvin, British film-maker who directed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, dies aged 86

The director’s BBC hit opened the door to Hollywood action films including Hamburger Hill, The Dogs of War and Raw Deal

The Guardian

By Sian Cain

August 19, 2026

 

John Irvin, the British film-maker who directed the Bafta-winning BBC miniseries Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, as well as films including Hamburger Hill, The Dogs of War and Raw Deal, has died aged 86.

Irvin died “peacefully at home” on 11 August, surrounded by his family, his producer Claire Evans confirmed to the Guardian.

Over a 50-year career that spanned TV, documentaries and action films, Irvin was known for his versatility, working with everyone from Fred Astaire to Arnold Schwarzenegger. His most famous work was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the John le Carré adaptation starring Alec Guinness as the spy George Smiley; Guinness once wrote of his admiration of Irvin, “a director with balls behind the camera!”

Born in 1940 in Wallasey, Cheshire, Irvin started out as a student at the London Film School and worked at British Movietone News. In 1963 he released his first film, the documentary Gala Day, and a documentary short, Inheritance, which was narrated by Richard Burton and won Irvin his first Bafta.

After he documented the North Yemen war, Irvin said MI6 took an interest in his work but he was never formally enlisted as a spy. “I was far too left wing, for a start, but was anti-apartheid, anti-war, anti-nuclear. They were probably well aware of my leftwing activities, so I was certainly not involved in any hanky-panky,” he said in a 2021 interview.

Irvin directed several short films for the BBC and ITV, including 1969’s The Peasants Revolt, starring Anthony Hopkins in his first TV role. In the 1970s he moved into TV drama, directing The Nearly Man, Hard Times starring Timothy West, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Guinness, Ian Richardson, Patrick Stewart and Beryl Reid. The miniseries won two Baftas from six nominations and was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding limited series.

The success of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opened the door to Hollywood, with Irvin directing The Dogs of War (1980) starring Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger; the horror film Ghost Story (1981) starring Fred Astaire; Champions (1984) starring John Hurt; Turtle Diary (1985) starring Ben Kingsley, Glenda Jackson and Michael Gambon; Raw Deal (1986) starring Schwarzenegger; Hamburger Hill (1987) starring Don Cheadle and Dylan McDermott; and Next of Kin (1989) starring Patrick Swayze and Liam Neeson.

In 1991 Irvin directed Robin Hood with Patrick Bergin and a 20-year-old Uma Thurman; the film was deliberately commissioned as a rival to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner. While Irvin’s film was released two months before Costner’s, the latter was a megahit at the box office. “It was very much a stand-alone film with the aim of giving Kevin Costner’s version a good kicking if we could,” Irvin told the Guardian in May. “The studio wanted to go immediately because they wanted to pre-empt the Costner … I didn’t get involved in that mess, I just put my head down. Politics were left to the producers and executives.”

In the 2000s, Irvin focused on independent cinema, directing films such as Shiner (2000) with Michael Caine, The Moon And The Stars (2006) with Alfred Molina and Jonathan Pryce, and The Garden Of Eden (2008) with Jack Huston, Mena Suvari and Richard E Grant.

Irvin’s final film was 2016’s Mandela’s Gun, a biopic of Nelson Mandela focused on his experience as a guerrilla fighter for the African National Congress. Irvin was working on a new cut of the film at the time of his death.

Irvin is survived by his three children, Emilie, Luke and Amy, and two grandchildren.

IRVIN, John (John Charles Greenway Irvin)

Born: 5/7/1940, Wallasey, Cheshire, England, U.K.

Died: 8/11/2026, England, U.K.

 

John Irvin’s western – director:

Crazy Horse (TV) - 1996

RIP Fulvio Lucisano

 

Fulvio Lucisano, the historic film producer has died. He was 98 years old

In his long career he has produced over one hundred and thirty films including "Three tigers against three tigers", "Lobster for breakfast", "Groundhog Day" and "Fantozzi the return"

la Republica

By Chiara Ugolini

August 18, 2026

 

Fulvio Lucisano, one of the most important film producers with seventy years of career behind him, has died. He was 98. Lucisano helped write the history of Italian cinema with his production company Italian International Film and Lucisano Media Group and was president of Anica from 1998 to 2001. To give notice of it the daughter Paola who with her sister Federica has collected the artistic legacy in a post in which she writes: "Rest in peace Dad."

Fulvio Lucisano, one of the most important film producers, with a career spanning seventy years, has died. He was 98 years old. Lucisano helped shape the history of Italian cinema through his production companies, Italian International Film and Lucisano Media Group, and served as president of ANICA from 1998 to 2001. The news was announced by his daughter Paola—who, along with her sister Federica, has carried on his artistic legacy—in a post reading: "Rest in peace, Dad."

Born in Rome in 1928, Lucisano took his first steps in the industry in the late 1940s at Istituto Luce, focusing on documentary production. Although he earned a law degree from Sapienza University, he had already been captivated by cinema before completing his studies. In 1949, he participated in the making of “Anno Santo” (Holy Year), a documentary about the 1950 Jubilee. This marked the beginning of a long period dedicated to documentaries, with around three hundred works produced independently and for Documento Film. He transitioned to feature films in 1955 with “I quattro del getto tonante”, and in 1958 he founded Italian International Film (IIF), which would become one of the longest-running and most significant entities in Italian cinema. He served as its honorary president, while his daughters Federica and Paola hold the roles of CEO and president, respectively.

Lucisano produced hundreds of films over his long career, including “Tre tigri contro tre tigri” (1977), “Aragosta a colazione” (1979), “Ricomincio da tre” (1981), “Il ras del quartiere” (1983), “Il tassinaro” (1983), “Un ragazzo di Calabria” (1987), “Il grande cocomero” (1993), “Fantozzi - Il ritorno” (1996), “Notte prima degli esami” (2006), “Non ci resta che il crimine” (2019), and “Tramite amicizia” (2023). Among his greatest achievements was placing his faith in Massimo Troisi, for whom he produced his first film. “Winning the David di Donatello for “Ricomincio da tre” came as a surprise,” he told la Repubblica a few years ago. “I had fallen in love with Massimo Troisi’s work in the theater; I was struck by how the crowd listened to him and enjoyed themselves—even those who didn’t understand Neapolitan. Everyone advised me against making the film. The only piece of advice I gave him—since he spoke in dialect—was: ‘Repeat the words a few times; that way, by the third time, people are bound to understand the line.’”

Since 2004, IIF has also been involved in television productions (ranging from “Mina Settembre” to “Liberi tutti”), and, starting in the 1990s, it partnered with Aurelio De Laurentiis to establish a chain of multiplex cinemas in Rome. In October 2007, the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, awarded Fulvio Lucisano the title of “Cavaliere del Lavoro” (Knight of the Order of Merit for Labour).

With an impressive career spanning over 600 films—both produced and distributed—Lucisano worked across every genre, amassing five David di Donatello awards (including the prize for “Il grande cocomero” and a Special Lifetime Achievement David in 2009), four Nastro d'Argento awards, and two Oscar nominations. Lucisano’s funeral will take place tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM in Rome at the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Piazza del Popolo. His daughters, Paola and Federica, have announced that a memorial service will be held at a later date, following the Venice Film Festival.

LUCISANO, Fulvio

Born: 8/1/1928, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 8/18/2026, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Fulvio Lucisano’s westerns – producer:

Savage Gringo -1966

2 Crosses at Danger Pass – 1967

They Still Call Me Amen - 1973

RIP Laura Cardoso

 Laura Cardoso, legend of Brazilian soap operas, dies aged 98

euro news

By Joana Mourão Carvalho

8/18/2026

 

Her death was confirmed by relatives via the actress's official Instagram. On TV she shone in telenovelas including "Chocolate com Pimenta", "Caminho das Índias" and "Gabriela".

Actress Laura Cardoso has died at the age of 98 in the early hours of Tuesday in São Paulo. Her death was confirmed (source in Portuguese) by the family through the official Instagram profile of the Brazilian actress.

"Our great star has said goodbye to us. Laura Cardoso will forever be in our hearts. Thank you for everything, our beloved and eternal Laura Cardoso," reads the message posted on the social network.

According to Fátima Cardoso, the actress's daughter, reports G1 (source in Portuguese), Laura died on Monday night after feeling unwell at her home in the Sumaré neighbourhood, in the western district of São Paulo.

With a career spanning more than 80 years in television, radio, theatre and cinema, Laura Cardoso is regarded as one of the leading figures in Brazilian drama. Born in 1927, she began working as a teenager, at the age of 15, in radio soap operas on Rádio Cosmos

She made her television debut in 1952, at the age of 25, in the programme "Tribunal do Coração" on TV Tupi. Since then, she worked on more than 60 telenovelas, making her the Brazilian actress with the largest number of titles to her name.

The actress joined TV Globo in 1981, in the telenovela "Brilhante" by Gilberto Braga. In the following decades, she appeared in more than 20 productions on the channel, including "Caminho das Índias", "Gabriela", "Chocolate com Pimenta", "Império" and "O Outro Lado do Paraíso".

Her last role on television was in the telenovela "A Dona do Pedaço", in 2019, broadcast in Portugal by SIC, in which she played Matilde.

Throughout her eight-decade career, Laura Cardoso was recognised with Brazil's main arts awards. Among them are five APCA (Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte) trophies, the Oscarito Award at the Gramado Festival for her contribution to Brazilian cinema, and in 2006 she was also honoured by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with the Order of Cultural Merit, one of Brazil's highest cultural distinctions.

Her last project was the short film "Dona Rosinha", released in 2025, which addresses the abandonment of elderly people.

CARDOSO, Laura

Born: 9/13/1927, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Died:  8/17/2026, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

 

Laura Cardoso’s western – actress:

Corisco, O Diabo Loiro – 1969 (Tia de Corisco)

RIP Peggy Webber

 

Peggy Webber, Prolific Radio and Film Actress Who Worked With Welles and Hitchcock, Dies at 100

The Eric Alper

August 17, 2026

 

Peggy Webber, an American actress and writer whose career spanned nearly seven decades across film, radio, television, and stage, died on August 15, 2026, in Napa, California, at the age of 100.

Born in Laredo, Texas, the daughter of a wildcat oil driller, Webber began performing almost as soon as she could talk, entertaining theatre audiences during intermissions before the age of three. She made her radio debut at just 12 years old on San Antonio station WOAI and graduated from Tucson High School in 1942, where she was active in dramatics. By 1946, Time magazine was already highlighting her vocal range, noting that in just three years she had voiced 150 different characters across roughly 2,500 broadcasts.

Webber made her film debut in 1946’s ‘Her Adventurous Night’ and went on to appear in Orson Welles’s 1948 adaptation of ‘Macbeth,’ playing Lady Macduff. She later appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Wrong Man’ and the 1952 film ‘Submarine Command.’ On television, she became a familiar presence across dozens of anthology series and Westerns throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including recurring and guest roles on ‘Dragnet,’ ‘Gunsmoke,’ ‘Cheyenne,’ and ‘Wagon Train,’ and later appeared in ‘The Waltons,’ ‘Marcus Welby, M.D.,’ and ‘Night Gallery.’ She lent her voice to characters in ‘The Smurfs’ during the 1980s and continued working into the 2000s, with one of her final credits coming in a 2005 episode of ‘The Inside.’

Beyond performing, Webber built a substantial career as a writer, director, and producer, credited with writing and directing roughly 250 stage plays and radio and television programs over her career. She served as writer and producer for the early television program ‘Treasures of Literature,’ which the Television Academy named the most popular television program of 1949, and in her later decades she founded the California Artists Radio Theatre, continuing to write, direct, and produce hundreds of new audio programs. In 2014, she became the first woman to receive the Norman Corwin Award for Excellence in Audio Theatre, recognizing a lifetime of achievement in the medium.

Webber was married twice, first to Dr. Robert Marshall Sinskey, and later to actor Sean McClory, to whom she was married from 1983 until his death in 2003. She had three children.

Across nearly a century of life and decades spent working across nearly every format American entertainment had to offer, Webber left behind an extraordinary body of work and a reputation as one of radio drama’s most dedicated and versatile champions.

WEBBER, Peggy (Margaret Webber)

Born: 9/15/1925, Laredo, Texas, U.S.A.

Died: 8/15/2026, Napa, California, U.S.A.

 

Peggy Webber’s westerns – actress:

Cheyenne (TV) - 1956 (Ella McIntyre)

Frontier (TV) - 1956 (Meg Horn)

Gunsmoke (TV) - 1957 (Flora Stancil)

Zane Grey Theatre (TV) - 1957 (Norah)

Man Without a Gun (TV) - 1959 (Kate Hutchins)

Trackdown (TV) - 1959 (Nora)

Wagon Train (TV) - 1959 (Millie Collins)

Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) - 1959 (Minnie Lee Blake)

Law of the Plainsman (TV) - 1960 (Hattie Mullen)

The Rebel (TV) - 1960 (Juanita Flynn)

Laramie (TV) - 1962 (Martha Grundy)

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (TV) – 1968 (old lady)

RIP Jan Frycz

 

‘A great artist’: Jan Frycz, acclaimed Polish stage and screen actor, dies at 72

Frycz bagged some of Poland’s most prestigious acting honors over a career spanning nearly five decades.

TVP World

By Ammar Anwer

8/17/2026

 

Jan Frycz, one of Poland’s most acclaimed stage and screen actors whose career spanned nearly five decades, has died aged 72.

Frycz passed away at his family home on Saturday surrounded by his loved ones, Poland’s National Theatre in Warsaw announced on Monday. 

“It is with profound sorrow that we received the news of the death of Jan Frycz, one of the most distinguished Polish actors,” the theatre said, calling him a “great artist.”

The Krakow native first stepped on the stage in the late 1970s, and build a stellar career in theatre, film and television. 

He won individual prizes at Poland’s most prestigious film awards on three occasions and gained popular acclaim for his role as Dario, a chilling veteran gangster in HBO Europe’s 2018 crime series Blinded by the Lights.

He remained professionally active until his final days and had begun rehearsals for a new production of Aeschylus’ ancient Greek tragedy Oresteia just days before his death.

Five decades on stage

Frycz graduated from the State Higher School of Theatre in Krakow in 1978 and made his professional stage debut the same year.

Over the following decades, he became one of the leading Polish actors of his generation, playing nearly 200 roles across theatre, film, television and radio.

His career included collaborations with some of Poland’s most celebrated film and stage directors, including Krystian Lupa, Jerzy Jarocki and Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrzej Wajda.

Frycz won the Polish Film Award – also known as the Eagle – for supporting roles in Pornography (2003), The Welts (2004) and 25 Years of Innocence (2021). 

His other honors also included the prestigious Aleksander Zelwerowicz Award for outstanding theatre acting and Poland’s Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis, awarded for distinguished contributions to Polish culture.

Among Frycz’s most notable theatrical roles were Ivan in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, Pontius Pilate in Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and leading parts in productions of King Lear, Uncle Vanya and Ivanov.

Working until his final days

“Jan Frycz was an incredibly important member of our ensemble – not only a great artist, but also a friend and, for many of us, a mentor,” the National Theatre in Warsaw said.

“We will greatly miss his charisma during rehearsals, his laughter behind the scenes, his long conversations and insights. Above all, we will miss him as a wonderful human being.”

Frycz had been associated with the National Theatre from 2006, having previously spent a brief period there in the early 1980s.

In May, he received an acting award at the Kalisz Theatre Meetings, one of Poland’s oldest festivals devoted to the art of acting, for his role as the King in Jan Klata’s Polish Thermopylae.

The National Theatre said Frycz had begun rehearsing for Luk Perceval’s production of Oresteia in the week before his death.

FRYCZ, Jan

Born: 5/15/1954, Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland

Died: 8/15/2026, Warsaw, Poland

 

Jan Frycz’s western – narrator:

Miasteczko Brighthope – 2023 [narrator]

RIP Phil Lyne

 

Legendary ProRodeo Hall of Famer Phil Lyne passes away

Pro Rodeo

By Tracy Renck

August 15, 2026

 

ProRodeo Hall of Famer Phil Lyne, considered one of the best cowboys in PRORODEO history, passed away Aug. 14 in Cotulla, Texas. He was 79.

Lyne's decorated PRORODEO career was highlighted by him winning the Rodeo Cowboys Association – the precursor to the PRCA – All-Around World Championships in 1971 and 1972 and the Tie-Down Roping World Championships in 1971 and 1972 as well.

Then, he captured the 1990 PRCA Steer Roping World Championships.

He also shined when the spotlight was the brightest at the National Finals Rodeo and National Finals Steer Roping. He won the tie-down roping average in 1971 and 1972, the 1972 bull riding average and the NFSR average in 1983 and 1986.

Lyne was the 1969 RCA Overall Rookie of the Year, and he also won the Linderman Award – an honor given to select cowboys willing and able to perform at both ends of the arena –  in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1976. 

"We crossed paths quite a few times – and I sure thought a lot of him, and he was definitely a hero of mine," said ProRodeo Hall of Famer Ty Murray, a nine-time PRCA World Champion to the PRORODEO Sports News. "He's absolutely one of the greatest to ever play the game and the most versatile. Then, you look at the span between his world championships, it's a big span. He was a Hell of a competitor, and it's crazy to me to see somebody that can do it that good and for that long. I had so much respect and admiration for Phil."

Bobby Steiner, the 1973 RCA Bull Riding World Champion, became friends with Lyne in the late 1960s and was well aware of how talented Lyne was in the arena.

"I first started on a permit in, like, 1968. And Phil was college rodeoing – and there was talk of him then. You know, he was just that guy," Steiner said. "I'm just glad he was really more serious about his calf roping and didn't go as hard in bull riding because he was just one of the toughest guys to get on the ground ever. He was just that tough, so you knew you were going to have to beat him.

"I'm glad he took roping more seriously and the all-around fit in his plans with bull riding. He never dedicated himself to being the champ in bull riding. You know what I mean? He was a champion calf roper, but he could kick your ass in a bull riding. The top three cowboys (of all-time) in my book are Larry Mahan, Ty Murray and Phil Lyne."

Lyne qualified for the NFR six times – tie-down roping (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973); and bull riding (1971, 1972). He added 10 more qualifications to the National Finals Steer Roping – 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990.

"I was never one of those people who set goals," Lyne said in "A Complete History of the First 50 Years of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo". "I just wanted to do my best every time I went out there. I always thought that when you set a goal, you gave yourself a stopping point. I just always wanted to be the best I could be from the day I started rodeo in high school. I loved doing it. I started calf roping and eventually started riding bulls. Everything just fell into place for me all along the line.

"After a while, I would get to an airport pretty loaded up with stuff, but I liked doing it all. I had friends in every event, and they helped me out a lot. When I was steer wrestling, I rode horses that belonged to Jim Smith and Roy Duvall."

Lyne was inducted into the 1979 inaugural class of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Lyne grew up in George West, Texas. He started out in the Texas Youth Rodeo Association, then the National High School Rodeo Association, and the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association at several Texas colleges starting and ending up with Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, with stints at colleges in Uvalde and San Marcos. By the time Lyne entered PRORODEO in 1969, he had won 42 saddles and quite a bit of prize money.

"He was a hero of mine. I mean, he is to a lot of people," said fellow ProRodeo Hall of Famer Guy Allen, who won a record 18 PRCA Steer Roping World Championships. "And he was a super, super great guy. I mean, as honest as the day is long. He's one of the best guys you'd ever know. I think what made him so great was his desire to win. He wanted to win. He didn't want to just compete and hear his name called. He wanted to win. What made him so successful was the effort that he put into practice. It was full contact with him when he practiced. He wasn't out there just to pass the time. He was out there to rope and win. He practiced, and he practiced hard. That's what made Phil Lyne great, the practice and the work ethic that he put into it."

Allen and Lyne traveled together for five years in the late 1980s.

"We used to also enter some rodeos in team roping together," Allen said. "I was heading and he was heeling. I didn't have a (steer roping) horse for one year, and he had a backup. So, I rode his backup horse, and he rode his good one. Then, I'd head on his good (steer roping) horse, and he'd heel on his backup. We had an inline trailer and a station wagon, and we drove around to rodeos."

When Lyne won his 1990 PRCA Steer Roping World Championship, it was Allen who finished second. The title was decided in Round 10.

Lyne, 43 at the time, turned in a disappointing 19.3-second run after he missed with his first loop and was forced to throw a second. Allen answered with a quick 12.7-second performance – but a broken barrier pushed that time to 22.7 seconds. That allowed Lyne to capture the title with $39,854 by a mere $85 over Allen.

"We were traveling together and we were winning first and second," Allen said. "I was ahead of him going into the (NFSR), and then we roped there. He was still in the average, and I'd went out of the average. It's kind of a funny story, really. His wife, Sarah Kay, came up to me and said, 'God let him win.' I said, 'Sarah Kay, I'm not going to let him win.' I broke the barrier and probably could've won, but it wasn't on purpose. I'll promise you that."

Tanner Green, Lyne's grandson, and PRCA tie-down roper and team roper, relished the time he spent with his legendary grandfather.

"As a kid, I – it was very hard to learn from him because he was very natural at everything. So as a kid, it was pretty hard because he really didn't break stuff down," Green said. "But now that I'm older, I see what he was doing and I understand it better. He's the reason I am the way I am, and I will never do what he did in the rodeo world, but he taught me how to be humble and not let the highs get too high and the lows get too low.

"He was the reason I did it, and he's the only reason I could go. He taught me everything. I lived with him for all my life, 28 years, and he taught me everything. He was a dad to me, is what he was. He was my dad."

LYNE WAS A HUMBLE LEGEND

As talented Lyne was, what set him apart was how humble he was about his accomplishments.

 

"Phil was just a cowboy. I mean, nothing ever went to his head at all. He was a hunter and a cowboy, and that's what he was every day," Steiner said. "There are not many people who you can say that about, but he was just a talented guy who in his mind was just a basic cowboy. He would talk to you and stuff, but he never was about, 'Man, I did this,' or, 'I did that.' You'd never know (about his accomplishments)."

Murray also appreciated Lyne's demeanor.

"He was such a gentleman. He always gave me a lot of praise and every time I would see him, I got my picture taken with him. Every time," Murray said. "To me, he just seemed like a world-class human being. He was not a flamboyant guy. He was not a guy who was seeking attention. Larry (Mahan) was a lot more flamboyant and a lot more out there with the media. And I think Phil always just kind of shied away from that. I think Phil mainly just liked doing cowboy stuff.

"I just thought he was always such a classy guy every time I was around him. It also felt like he and I totally understood each other."

Green summed up his grandfather's legacy perfectly.

"You almost had to pry the rodeo talk out of him. He really didn't talk about it very much," Green said. "He'd rather talk about coyote hunting or something like his cow dogs. He wasn't big on talking about rodeo and himself. He did what he wanted to, and he hung it up and never went back and never looked back.

"There will never ever be another Phil Lyne. I don't think there will ever be a man as tough, as humble, or as handy as him ever again. I'm not saying that because he was my granddad. I mean, that's the toughest human being I think I've ever seen."

Lyne is survived by his wife, Sarah; and daughters, Amanda and Samantha, who qualified for the 2014 NFR in barrel racing and is married to world champion bull rider JB Mauney.

LYNE, Phil (Philip Lyne)

Born: 1/18/1947, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.

Died: 8/14/2026, Cotulla, Texas, U.S.A.

 

Phil Lyne’s western – himself:

The Great American Cowboy - 1974

RIP Mark Rydell

 

Mark Rydell, ‘On Golden Pond’ and ‘The Rose’ Director, Dies at 97

Variety

By Carmel Dagan

August 14, 2026

 

Mark Rydell, who received a best director nomination for the Oscar-winning “On Golden Pond” and directed Bette Midler in “The Rose” and “For the Boys,” died Friday. He was 97.

Midler posted about his death on her Instagram, writing, “Mark Rydell, the director or my first film, The Rose, died this morning. He was an actor of note before he became a director, and I was so lucky to have met him when I did; he taught me so much on The Rose and later on For The Boys. Two Oscars nominations both because of him. He was the actor’s whisperer; just a few words was all it took to understand what was needed. Devoted to Meisner. So many happy memories.”

He started his directing career in television before graduating to film in the late ’60s with an adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s “The Fox.”

As a director he elicited strong performances from his actors, guiding Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn to Oscars and Jane Fonda to a supporting actress nomination for “On Golden Pond” in 1981. He had previously worked similar magic for Midler in her screen debut, “The Rose” (and later in her career in “For the Boys”); Marsha Mason in “Cinderella Liberty”; Sissy Spacek in “The River”; and Rupert Crosse, who drew a supporting nom for 1969’s “The Reivers.”

His greatest screen success was “On Golden Pond,” adapted from Ernest Thompson’s stage drama about family relationships. It was nominated for best picture and brought Rydell a directing nom. The seriously ill Henry Fonda won an Oscar in what would be his last starring role — and his only co-starring role with daughter Jane, who was also nominated. Hepburn won an unprecedented fourth acting Oscar for her work, and Thompson won for adapting his work to the screen.

In front of the camera he started as an actor on the soap opera “As the World Turns” in the 1950s and made his feature debut as a juvenile delinquent in the gritty 1956 drama “Crime in the Streets,” and he appeared on Broadway “Seagulls Over Sorrento,” “Handful of Fire” and “Moonbirds” during the period; in later years he would take on the occasional supporting role, most impressively as the psychotic gangster in Robert Altman’s “The Long Goodbye” — the kind of performance that would have made the career of a full-time working actor.

But Rydell preferred to direct, if somewhat sporadically, and to produce, forming a partnership with Sydney Pollock in the mid-1980s, Sanford Prods.

The young actor had crossed behind the camera by the early ’60s, racking up an impressive resume of episodic television helming credits, including episodes of “Gunsmoke,” “Ben Casey,” “The Fugitive,” “I Spy” and “The Wild, Wild West.” His reputation for speed and for drawing smart performances led to his first film directing job, “The Fox,” a controversial love triangle story that raised the hackles of censors (for lesbian content and a famous masturbation scene) but was warmly received by arthouse audiences in the late ’60s. The film starred Sandy Dennis and Keir Dullea.

Next up was Western comedy “The Reivers,” a star vehicle for Steve McQueen, which brought Crosse an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. Three years later in 1972 he directed (and produced) another Western, “The Cowboys,” starring John Wayne. The following year he also did double duty on the romantic drama “Cinderella Liberty,” starring James Caan and Mason, for which Mason picked up an Oscar nomination. That same year he made an indelible impression in front of the cameras as gangster Marty Augustine in Robert Altman’s adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye,” starring Elliott Gould.

His 1976 period comedy “Harry and Walter Go to New York” was one of his lesser efforts despite an all-star cast of Caan, Gould and Diane Keaton. He bounced back in 1979 with “The Rose,” a fictionalized version of the short, tempestuous life of Janis Joplin, expertly taking Midler through her feature debut perf, for which she was awarded her first Oscar nomination. He would later guide her to another nomination as a wartime USO performer with shades of Martha Raye in “For the Boys” in 1991.

In 1981 came the achievement of “On Golden Pond.”

Though he was now a feature director and occasional actor, Rydell also served as an executive consultant on the critically lauded ABC drama “Family” from 1976-80.

The 1984 heartland drama “The River” was not a notable success, though it brought Sissy Spacek another Oscar nomination as best actress. Rydell took a break from directing to star in the standup comedy drama “Punchline” and as another gangster, Meyer Lansky, in his friend Pollock’s “Havana.”

In 1991, while directing “For the Boys,” he also produced a small rural drama, “The Man in the Moon,” starring Sam Waterston. His 1994 marital drama “Intersection,” starring Richard Gere and Sharon Stone, was moderately successful.

He returned to television in 1996 to direct “Crime of the Century,” about the Lindbergh kidnapping case, for HBO. In 2001 he helmed the critically acclaimed TNT telepic “James Dean,” starring James Franco, and drawing 11 Emmy nominations including best director.

Rydell returned to the bigscreen to direct “Even Money,” starring Kim Basinger, Kelsey Grammer and Forest Whitaker and centering gambling addiction, in 2006. His last helming effort was a 2007 episode of the ABC series “Masters of Science Fiction,” hosted by Stephen Hawking.

Rydell continued his acting work. In the 2000s he appeared in his own “James Dean” (playing studio mogul Jack Warner) and “Even Money,” as well as in Woody Allen’s “Hollywood Ending” and an episode of “Everwood.” And in 2006 he returned to the stage to star in an Elaine May trilogy of one-acts in San Francisco.

Mortimer H. Rydell was born in New York and attended the Juilliard School of Music, training as an actor both at the Neighborhood Playhouse and at the Actors Studio. In the 1950s, he appeared on Broadway while working as a jazz pianist to earn extra money. For six years he starred in “As the World Turns” before his character was killed off. He also worked as an actor in television in episodes of such series as “Wanted: Dead or Alive” before moving into directing for TV and then for the bigscreen.

He is survived by three children, Amy, Christopher, both actors; and Alexander, an editor.

RYDELL, Mark (Mortimer Harold Rydell)

Born: 3/23/1929, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 8/13/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Mark Rydell’s westerns – producer, director, actor:

Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1960 (Tom Adams)

The Virginian (TV) – 1963 [director]

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1964-1966 [director]

The Wild Wild West (TV) - 1966 [director]

The Cowboys – 1972 [producer, director]

RIP Silvia Monti

 

Silvia Monti, actress and wife of Carlo De Benedetti, has died

He was 80 years old. Success had come with "As long as there is war there is hope", directed and performed by Alberto Sordi

FQ Magazine

August 12, 2026

 

Silvia Monti, actress and wife of entrepreneur Carlo De Benedetti, died after an illness. She was 80 years old. For several years she worked in cinema.

In 1974 success came with "Finché c’è guerra c’è speranza", directed and starring Alberto Sordi. The actress played the character of Silvia, the wife of the protagonist Pietro Chiocca (Sordi himself), who supports and enjoys the high standard of living and luxuries guaranteed by her husband's business in the international arms trade. At the height of his popularity, Monti decided to abandon the big screen and retire from public life.

Life and career

Born Silvia Cornacchia on January 23, 1946 in Bassano del Grappa, in the province of Vicenza, she was a well-known face of Italian cinema between the late sixties and the first half of the seventies.

Over the course of a few years she had worked with directors such as Alberto Lattuada, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Gérard Oury, Lucio Fulci, Luigi Bazzoni and Alberto Sordi. After leaving the cinema, she married the Venetian count Luigi Donà dalle Rose with whom she had two children, Leonardo and Una. The couple separated in 1994. On July 10, 1997, the former actress remarried entrepreneur Carlo De Benedetti, with whom she remained linked for almost three decades and with whom she moved to Lugano, Switzerland, where she lived in recent years.

Silvia Monti's debut on the big screen came in 1969 with Alberto Lattuada's "Fräulein Doktor", where she had a small part. In the same year she starred in "Metti, una sera a cena" by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, "Il cervello" by Gérard Oury and "Sai cosa faceva Stalin alle donne?" by Maurizio Liverani. In the following years, some of the best-known titles in his filmography had arrived. In 1971 she took part in "A lizard with a woman's skin" by Lucio Fulci, "Black day for the ram" by Luigi Bazzoni and "The black corsair" by Lorenzo Gicca Palli.

In 1972 she was part of the cast of "Afyon – Oppio" by Ferdinando Baldi. Then, she worked in "Sono stato io!" by Lattuada, "Peccato d'amore", "La mano spietata della legge" by Mario Gariazzo, "Il domestico" and "Milano: il clan dei calabresi".

MONTI, Silvia

Born: 1/23/1946, Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, Italy

Died: 8/12/2026, Lugano, Switzerland

 

Silvia Monti’s western – actress:

Judge Roy Bean – 1971 (Cat/Katy)

RIP Jerry Katzman

 

Jerry Katzman Dies: Former WMA President Was 89

DEADLINE

By Nellie Andreeva

August 10, 2026

 

Jerry Katzman, a 30-year veteran of the William Morris Agency who served as President and Vice Chairman in the 1990s and helped shape modern television packaging, died August 9 in Los Angeles surrounded by family. He was 89.

Born in a showbiz family, with a producer father and an actress mother, Katzman graduated from Beverly Hills High School, UC Berkeley and UCLA Law School. After briefly practicing law, he worked in film production with his King of B-movies father Sam Katzman in the 1960s and early 1970s on such titles as Elvis Presley’s Kissin’ Cousins and Harum Scarum, Roy Orbison’s Fastest Guitar Alive, and Peter Noone’s Hold On!

His entertainment industry path locked in, Katzman joined William Morris in 1972, starting in Business Affairs before transitioning to become a packaging agent in the TV department. He rose through the ranks to Head of Worldwide Television and then President and Vice Chairman.

The series he helped package by assembling creative talent and other key elements include The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Murphy Brown, Murder She Wrote and Roseanne.

Known as a trusted Hollywood advisor and mentor throughout his career, Katzman left WMA at the end of 2001 to join the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television as a faculty member, teaching in the Producers Program and serving as one of the school’s liaisons with the entertainment industry. He also worked as a consultant to entertainment companies, including management and production firm Anonymous Content, and did a stint as President of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society

“Katzman was loved and respected by all who knew him. He was admired by so many as a mentor. He was a fearless leader, firm and decisive in his actions, who faced challenging decisions with great thoughtfulness,” the family said. “He had the grit to take on the difficult circumstances that inevitably transpire over a lifetime through a resilience rooted in his desire to celebrate every meaningful moment. Katzman had an amazing life, and he fought Parkinson’s with dignity and grace for so many years.”

Outside of showbiz, Katzman maintained decades-long friendships, some dating back to elementary school. His favorite things included traveling, art, music, movies, theatre, the Dodgers, golf and Cappuccino ice cream.

Katzman shared a 66-year marriage with his wife, Carol Sinn, whom he met at UC Berkeley when she was 18 and he was 20. Together they built a life centered on family, travel and gatherings with friends. He loved spending time with his kids and grandkids and together with Carol never missed an opportunity to celebrate every birthday, anniversary, wedding, graduation and holiday.

In addition to Carol, Katzman is survived by his children Jeff (Joanna), producer Jon (Zukhra), and Kari (Jim Kramer); grandchildren Jackie (Nick Rekenthaler), William, Neil, Josh, Jenna, Roland and Audrey; great-granddaughter Naomi Juliette; sister-in-law, Marji (Roger) Davisson; niece Rebecca Sperling (Deb Little). nephew Alan Sperling (Brandy), niece Julie Davsson Liegl (Jeremy), Ross Davvison (Abby), and their children, and cousin David Inlander (Beth).

Services will be held August 13 at Hillside Memorial Park at noon PT.

Those who would like to honor Katzman’s memory can consider supporting the following organizations or a charity of their choice: UCLA Parkinson’s Center: Attention Dr. Jeff Bronstein/Jessica Vrazilek; Jewish Federation, Los Angeles; and Cedars Sinai Board of Governors.

KATZMAN, Jerry (Jerome Katzman)

Born: 4/21/1927, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Died: 8/9/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Jerome Katzman’s western – producer:

The Fastest Guitar Alive - 1967

RIP Gloria Carlin

 

Gloria Carlin Chetwynd's Obituary 

Legacy

August 6, 2026

 

Gloria Carlin Chetwynd passed away August 5, 2026, peacefully at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, with her family around her. A successful actress, loving wife and mother, doting grandmother and a devoted friend to so many, she prioritized joy in both her life and the lives of the people around her. Simply put, she lived a complete life.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Gloria found a passion for acting at a young age. She was a star pupil at Montreal's Children's Theatre, Mountain Playhouse and Centaur Theatre. She also served as a teacher for so many aspiring students. After graduating high school, she considered attending university in the United States but stayed in Canada to assist her family. As a result, she attended Sir George Williams University - a decision which turned out to be deeply life-changing.

The reason: She met her future husband, Lionel, at Sir George, commenting that he looked like Paul Newman after they first met. It was an instant connection sealed when Lionel came over to Gloria's family home and took apart and then fixed a beloved music box.

Still, Gloria was driven and, when famed drama coach Peggy Feury asked her to come to New York City to study acting at the Actor's Studio and dance with Martha Graham, she was compelled to embrace the adventure. While she found studying dance challenging at times, her acting turned heads. So much so that she was offered a contract by Warner Bros. The opportunity to move to Los Angeles and elevate her acting career at a young age was a big one, but after an all-night conversation with Lionel, they agreed to "do it together," and Gloria moved back to Montreal.

That choice also proved to be a good one. Gloria and Lionel wed in 1963 and she continued to perform, appearing in plays and hosting a children's television show on the CBC. She also worked at one of Montreal's pinnacle events, Expo 67. Following that, Lionel and Gloria moved to London, where Gloria featured in the West End Production of "Maybe That's Your Problem." During their time in London, Gloria and Lionel had two sons - Michael in 1968 and Joshua in 1971.

The family would move to Connecticut and then to New York City before settling in Los Angeles in 1976. Throughout, her acting career blossomed. She appeared in 15 movies, including starring or major roles in such films as "Two Solitudes", "Goldenrod", "Hanoi Hilton" and "Varian's War". She also played a recurring role in General Hospital as Charity Gatlin. The character was so beloved that years after she had left the show an additional plotline was created about her character's children. Other television guest performances included turns on "The Facts of Life", "Knots Landing" and "Cagney and Lacey".

Along with being a remarkable actress, she was an award-worthy grandmother to her four grandchildren, Miller, Joseph, Mira and Becca. From the birth of her first grandchild, she took to that role as passionately as any she performed on the stage or screen. She never missed birthdays and always relished time with each of them.

However, it's important to note that her enthusiasm for people did not stop with her family. She was a light for anyone who had the privilege to know her. She was always willing to listen and provide sage advice. Those in her orbit knew, unreservedly, that Gloria, an unabashed optimist, was always in their corner.

She is survived by her husband (Lionel), her two sons (Michael and Joshua), her two daughters-in-law (Tracy and Jennifer), her four grandchildren (Miller, Joseph, Mira and Becca), her brother (Harvey) and sister-in-law (Suzee), five nieces and nephews (Cindy, Lisa, Clifford, Gabriel and Jeremy).

Her funeral will take place at Mount Sinai Memorial Park on Monday, August 10 at 2:30 p.m. It is located at 6150 Mount Sinai Drive, Simi Valley, California 93063. For those who cannot attend, a livestream will be available at: https://mount-sinai-memorial-parks-and-mortuaries.livecontrol.tv/06aace8d 

CARLIN, Gloria

Born: 2/20/1942, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Died: 8/5/2026, Sherman Oaks, California, U.S.A.

 

Gloria Carlin’s western – actress:

Goldenrod – 1976 (Shirley Ashbee Gifford)

RIP Jon Cypher

 

Actor Jon Cypher, 94, passed on Aug. 3 at his home in Twin Creeks, Central Point, Oregon, with his wife of 40 years, Carol Rosin, by his side. 

Ashland News

August 10, 2026

Jan. 13, 1932 — Aug. 3, 2026

 

Jon will be buried at the Forest Conservation Burial Ground in Ashland, Oregon, under tall trees in a meadow, wrapped in a completely natural, biodegradable shroud, obliging his wish to return to nature.

Jon is known for his TV roles as Chief Daniels on “Hillstreet Blues”; General Craig on “Major Dad”; Prince Charming with Julie Andrews in the original production of “Cinderella”; 12 Broadway shows, including Don Quixote in “Man of La Mancha,” Thomas Jefferson in “1776” and Juan Perón in “Evita”; and roles in several movies, including “Masters of the Universe,” “Spontaneous Combustion” and “Strictly Business.”

Jon sang opera in four languages, and was known to burst out in song, bringing joy to every event.

As host of the 2001 Disclosure Project press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Jon was outspoken in support for urgent recognition of truth regarding non-threatening extra-terrestials and their crafts, and promoted The Treaty to Prevent the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space.   

Jon authored a book of limericks reviewed as a masterpiece in our time, “If You’re Not Depressed You Oughta Be in Therapy.”

He was the most kind of men with a great sense of humor, brilliant mind, and a huge loving and caring heart for all sacred life.

As he wished, Jon’s burial will be in a place to observe and honor nature, life and death, and the grief that connects us all. His prayer for peace and love to prevail for all life on earth and in the cosmos, is represented at Jon’s forest burial site, open for all to visit.

CYPHER, Jon (Jon Herbert Cypher)

Born: 1/13/1932, New York City, New York, U.S.A.

Died:  8/3/2026, Twin Creeks, Central Point, Oregon, U.S.A

 

Jon Cypher’s westerns – actor:

Valdez is Coming – 1970 (Frank Tanner)

Bonanza (TV) – 1972 (Colonel Cody Ransom)

The Kid and the Killers – 1974 (Roper)

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (TV) - 1996 (Preston A. Lodge II)

Walker, Texas Ranger (TV) - 1999 (Waylon Cox)

RIP Carlos del Campo

 

Carlos del Campo, the unforgettable voice of Peter Pettigrew, C-3PO and Slinky, dies; This is what we know about his death

The news was announced through social networks of family members and colleagues from the artistic world.

mediotiempo

By Fátima Vázquez

8/2/2026

 

Voice actor Carlos del Campo, recognized for voicing characters in successful films of the 90s in their Latin version, died this Sunday, August 2 at the age of 67.

The news was revealed by his family as well as colleagues from the artistic world, who shared the news through social networks and their official accounts.

In early 2026, it was announced that the actor was facing health problems, but he kept the details of his condition confidential. Due to his condition, the actor gradually reduced his activity within the medium and retired from the recording booths.

So far the reason for his death is unknown but social media users commented that everyone was waiting for news of him, since he did not participate in the new ‘Toy Story 5’ movie, in the previous productions he played Slinky.

Who was Carlos del Campo?

Carlos del Campo was a renowned Mexican actor, dubbing director, broadcaster and singer, born in Chihuahua on December 30, 1959, and died on August 2, 2026.

He stood out for his great versatility to give voice to characters of all ages, from children to the elderly. Among its most famous characters are: Slinky in the 'Toy Story' saga. C-3PO's android in the 'Star Wars' movies.

He also played Bulk (Farkas Bulkmeier) in the early 'Power Rangers' series. Gin Ichimaru in the anime 'Bleach', Professor Souichi Tomoe in 'Sailor Moon S' and also participated in the anime of 'The Knights of the Zodiac' in the Gemini Saga playing 'The Golden Knight of Gemini', in addition to his facet as the evil Patriarch.

del CAMPO. Carlos (Carlos Nicolas Ramos del Campo)

Born: 12/30/1959, Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico

Died: 8/2/2026, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

 

Carlos del Campos’s western – voice actor:

Balto: Wolf Quest – 2001 [Spanish voice of hunter]

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron – 2002 [Spanish voice of Pete]

RIP Barbara Adolph

 

synchron kartei /Wikipedia

June 30, 2026

German actress of film and television Barbara Adolph died in Berlin on June 19th a few weeks after her 95th birthday.

During her acting training, Barbara Adolph already received role offers as a supporting actress in film and television productions, before she first participated on a theatre stage in Greiz in 1952. Later followed engagements in Gera, Karl-Marx-Stadt and the Deutsches Theater Berlin. At the same time, she developed into a popular actress in DEFA feature films in the 1960s, especially in comedies.

In 1978 she moved from the GDR to West Germany. She became a freelance actress at the Renaissance Theatre in West Berlin. In addition, she was mainly seen in television productions such as our teacher Doctor Specht and Liebling Kreuzberg.

Barbara Adolph made a name for herself mainly as a voice actor. She has already synchronized several times for the DEFA in the GDR and also took over numerous synchronous roles after she moved to the Federal Republic. So she spoke several times Vanessa Redgrave, Louise Fletcher, Marian Seldes, Vera Miles and Lauren Bacall. Since the retirement of Bettina Schön, she has taken over the dubbing of several actresses, such as Maggie Smith and Olympia Dukakis. In television series, Adolph also dubbed Ellen Geer, Joanna Miles, Fionnula Flanagan and Claudette Nevins several times. In total, she stood for over 700 castors behind the microphone.

In 2021, Barbara Adolph retired.

ADOLPH, Barbara (Barbara Adolph-Bober)

Born: 6/8/1931, Schneidemühl, Posen-West Prussia

Died: 6/19/2026, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

 

Barbara Adolphs westerns – voice actress:

The Younger Brothers – 1949 [1991 DVD German voice of Joan Blair]

The Lone Ranger (TV) – 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957 [German voice of Cecil

     Spooner, Mann Sais, Constance Purdy, Mary Newton, Eula Morgan, Natalie Masters,

     Florence Lake, Barbara Knudson, Edna Holland, Virginia Christine, Claire Carleton

Sergeant Preston of the Yukon (TV) – 1955, 1958 [German voice of Riza Royce, Jean Hayworth]

Bonanza (TV) – 1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972 [German voice of Lorna

     Thayer, Phyllis Thaxter, Marianne Stewart, Ruth Roman, Rita Lynn, Nancy Gates, Lillian

     Field, Angela Clarke, Veda Ann Borg, Alma Beltran, Majel Barrett, Luana Anders

Lancer (TV) - 1968 [German voice of Jeanne Cooper]

Gunsmoke (TV) – 1970, 1975 [German voice of Vera Miles, Alma Beltran]

Bret Maverick (TV) – 1982 [German voice of Savannah Smith]

Yellow Rose (TV) – 1983-1984 [German voice of Barbara Stock, Hanna Landy]

Harts of the West (TV) - 1993 [German voice of Diane Ladd]

 

RIP Nils Eklund

 

Popular actor Nils Eklund dead

Sveriges Television

By Catarina Jonsson

August 7, 2026

 

Actor Nils Eklund has died, 99 years old. His last role was in the Norén play "Andante" at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in 2019.

He was also the last person in Sweden to be convicted of blasphemy.

Nils Eklund had a long and broad acting career. He was in popular TV productions such as "Göta kanal" and in the early 1980s in "Svenska Sesam", where he played the character Pom-Pom.

Nils Eklund was engaged at a young age at the city theatres in Helsingborg and Malmö, among other places. He was a member of the Royal Dramatic Theatre's permanent ensemble until his retirement and was awarded the Litteris et Artibus for "outstanding contributions to the arts" in 2010.

"I've never been able to do any of the big roles like King Lear or Hamlet. That's why it was extremely fun," he said in an interview at the time.

Voiced child-loving Pettson

Nils Eklund was pleased when children recognized his voice and asked if he was Pettson. The voice of the early "Pettson and Findus" books was one of his many assignments as a narrator.

Nils Eklund was on stage one last time in Lars Norén's "Andante" at the Royal Dramatic Theatre as a 92-year-old. He was alert until a few weeks before he died and fell asleep with those closest to him around him.

Nils Eklund was 99 years old.

The last person in Sweden to be convicted of blasphemy

Until 1970, you could be convicted of violating the peace of faith in Sweden.

In 1963, Nils Eklund, together with Lasse O'Månsson and Carl-Uno Sjöblom, made a sketch on Swedish Radio in which they joked about merging churches with petrol stations and distributing communion to petrol station customers.

Three colleagues were convicted of blasphemy.

EKLUND, Nils (Nils Ernst Gustaf Eklund)

Born: 1/17/1927, Bromma, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Died:  8/4/2026, Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

 

Nils Eklund’s western – actor:

Wild Wild West – 1963 (Jonas)

RIP Joan Blackman

 

Joan Blackman, Elvis’ Love Interest in ‘Blue Hawaii’ and ‘Kid Galahad,’ Dies at 87

She also appeared (separately) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in ‘Career’ and ‘Visit to a Small Planet’ and on TV’s ‘Peyton Place.’

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

August 6, 2026

 

Joan Blackman, who played women that Elvis Presley ultimately could not resist in Blue Hawaii and Kid Galahad, has died. She was 87.

Blackman died March 16 at a hospital in Santa Rosa, California, her son, Ngai Tarkington, told The Hollywood Reporter. She was a longtime resident of nearby Calistoga.

The San Francisco native also portrayed the first wife of a struggling actor (Anthony Franciosa) in the Hall Wallis-produced, Dean Martin-starring Career (1959) and recurred on the ABC primetime soap Peyton Place during its second season (1965-66) as Marion Fowler, wife of district attorney John Fowler (John Kerr).

The raven-haired Blackman had appeared as a member of a family visited by a goofy alien played by Jerry Lewis in Visit to a Small Planet (1960), directed by Norman Taurog. She then reunited with Wallis and Taurog as the tour guide Maile Duval in Blue Hawaii (1961), the first of three Presley films to shoot in the 50th state. (Maile and Elvis’ Chad Gates marry at the end of the movie.)

That same year, she began filming on Kid Galahad (1962) in which she portrayed Rose Grogan, the younger sister of Gig Young’s character, the owner of a boxing camp. She got her man Elvis, who plays mechanic turned boxer Walter Gulick, in that picture as well. (Watch her and Presley from that film here.)

An only child, Joan May Blackman was born in San Francisco on May 17, 1938. Her father, Frank, was a musician, and her mother, Ivy, a homemaker. She took singing and dancing lessons and as a youngster performed on television, at military camps and hospitals and with Ernie Heckscher’s big band at the Fairmont Hotel.

After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1956, she came to Los Angeles that December and rented a room at the Hollywood Studio Club, where Barbara Eden also was staying at the time.

She wound up inking a contract with Hecht-Hill-Lancaster (she was the Burt Lancaster-led production company’s fourth-ever signing) and made her big-screen debut in Good Day for a Hanging (1959), starring Fred MacMurray.

She said she read twice for the role of Maria in West Side Story (1961) and “really thought I was going to get it,” she told FilmFan magazine last year. (Natalie Wood, of course, was hired.)

Her résumé included the films The Great Impostor (1961), the Richard Chamberlain-starring Twilight of Honor (1963), Intimacy (1966), Daring Game (1968), Pets (1974), Macon County Line (1974) and Moonrunners (1975) and TV appearances on Perry Mason, Bonanza, I Spy, Gunsmoke and Run for Your Life.

Blackman was married to actors Joby Baker (Good Morning World) from 1959 until their 1961 divorce and to Rockne Tarkington (Black Samson) from 1968 until their 1970 divorce. She spent her years away from Hollywood gardening and singing in local spots around town, her son said.

Her other son, Rockne Tarkington Jr., died in 2019.

BLACKMAN, Joan (Joan May Blackman)

Born: 5/17/1938, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Died: 3/16/2026, Santa Rosa, California, U.S.A.

 

Joan Blackman’s westerns – actress:

Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (TV) – 1957 (Mara, Willow Whist)

Good Day for a Hanging – 1959 (Laurie Cutler)

Bonanza (TV) - 1965 (Clara Dorn)

Gunsmoke (TV) - 1966 (Phyllis Bowman)

 

RIP Abbe Lane

 

Abbe Lane, Glamorous Singer and Actress, Dies at 93

Once married to bandleader Xavier Cugat, she starred on Broadway with Tony Randall and in films with Glenn Ford, Van Heflin and Vittorio De Sica.

The Hollywood Reporter

By Mike Barnes

August 6, 2026

 

Abbe Lane, the glamorous entertainer who starred in movies with Glenn Ford and Cornel Wilde and built a thriving singing career alongside her onetime husband, famed bandleader Xavier Cugat, has died. She was 93.

Lane died April 25 of natural causes in Los Angeles, her son Steven Leff told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lane starred in nearly two dozen Italian movies, working with the likes of Vittorio De Sica and Totó, and with Tony Randall toplined the 1958 Broadway musical comedy Oh Captain! (1958), directed by José Ferrer.

Once called the “Swingingest Sexpot in Show Business,” the redhead made a 3D splash in Wings of the Hawk (1953), starring Van Heflin and Julie Adams. She also appeared with Audie Murphy and Dan Duryea in Ride Clear of Diablo (1954), with Ford in The Americano (1955), with Dennis O’Keefe in Chicago Syndicate (1955) and with Wilde, who also directed, in Maracaibo (1958).

The Brooklyn native had married the Spanish-born, Cuba-raised Cugat in Miami in 1952 after he had spotted her singing in a Broadway show when she was nearing 16 and he was approaching 49. She fronted his Latin music orchestra and toured with him throughout Europe before she initiated their Mexican divorce in June 1964.

She quickly remarried, and two years later Cugat wed another much younger entertainer, Charo, the last of his five wives.

Lane wrote about her marriage to Cugat in the 1993 roman à clef But Where Is Love?, which publisher Warner Books promoted as a “riveting, glitzy, star-splashed tale of passion, obsession and one young woman’s poignant search for happiness. Peopled with Hollywood luminaries both real and imagined, it features tantalizing lore and gossip only a true insider could provide.”

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Lane said she suffered “constant mental abuse” from Cugat. “He told me when to eat, when to sleep, when things had to be done,” she said. “I never argued with him. There was no point. His will prevailed in all cases.”

Abigail Francine Lassman was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 14, 1932, and raised in Manhattan. She sang on the radio and modeled, attended the High School of Music and Art for a year and then, billed as Abbe Marshall, performed on Broadway in 1947-48 in George Abbott’s Barefoot Boy With Cheek and in Michael Todd’s As the Girls Go.

“That’s when I met Cugie,” she said in 1963. “He was looking for a new vocalist when he saw me doing a calypso number in the stage show one night. The very next day Cugie was a guest with Vincent Lopez [on Lopez’s TV show, where she was a performer], and he saw me again. He liked my style and voice and asked me to audition the next day. I did and he hired me.”

After being accompanied by her mother on the road for about a year, she and Cugat wed — “I figured, I’ll marry him and travel, I didn’t realize that there would be other things involved,” she explained in a 2005 interview.

The couple toured Italy and performed as themselves in cha-cha-cha nightclub acts seen in Lo Scapolo (1955) and Donatella (1956). Soon, she was starring in such Italian films as The Lady Doctor (1957), Honor Among Thieves (1957) and Roulotte e roulette (1959).

In 1957, Lane performed backed by her husband on NBC’s The Xavier Cugat Show and on The Ed Sullivan Show, and a year later, she was paired with Tito Puente and his mambo orchestra on the album Be Mine Tonight. A review of the LP notes that she “commands the spotlight from start to finish, galvanizing otherwise innocuous lyrics with wit, sophistication and sheer lust.”

Lane also partnered with bandleader Sid Ramin on a 1959 album of pop tunes as she recorded for RCA Victor and then Mercury Records.

She had become a cultural icon, and in the original 1960-61 Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie, Chita Rivera‘s character sings “Spanish Rose” with these lyrics: “I’ll eat the tacos and the enchilada; I’ll drink tequila till I feel no pain; The only song I’ll sing will be ‘Granada’; I’ll be more español than Abbe Lane.”

Lane, who spoke four languages, also headlined a Las Vegas act, performed often on The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace and The Merv Griffin Show and acted on Naked City, Burke’s Law, F Troop, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Flying Nun, The Brady Bunch — as a spoiled perfume heiress — and Hart to Hart.

She said that the dominating Cugat told her “for so many years that, ‘Unless I’m behind you on the bandstand, you will not be able to perform, you will just melt away,'” she said. “It was not true, but I bought into it.”

Six months after divorcing Cugat, she married Perry Leff, a Creative Management Associates agent who represented the likes of Barbra Streisand and Gilligan’s Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, in a ceremony at the Plaza in New York. He died in 2020.

She also is survived by another son, Andrew, a music industry veteran and attorney, and a granddaughter, Kaia.

LANE, Abbe (Abigail Francine Lassman)

Born: 12/14/1932, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

Died: 4/25/2026, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

 

Abbe Lane’s westerns – actress, singer:

Wings of the Hawk – 1953 (Elena Noriega)

Ride Clear of Diablo – 1954 (Kate) [singer]

The Americano – 1955 (Teresa)

F Troop (TV) – 1966 (Lorelei Duval)

RIP Bruno Battisti D’Amario

 

Grande Oriente D’Italia

August 5, 2026

 

The Grand Orient of Italy abhors for the passage to the Eternal East of his brother master Bruno Battisti d'Amario

The Grand Orient of Italy embraces the passage to the Eternal East of the dear brother master Bruno Battisti d'Amario who passed away on Wednesday 5 August in Rome at the age of 88. Grand Master Antonio Seminario and the members of the Council join the Leti brothers in chains and express their deepest condolences to the family.

Founder of the Roman lodge named after Giuseppe Leti and composer of the official anthem of the Grand Orient of Italy, Bruno Battisti d'Amario has held top positions in the Order. He was twice President of the Circumscriptive College of the Venerable Masters of Lazio and Councilor of the Order. The funeral will be celebrated at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto (Church of the Artists, in Piazza del Popolo 18, Rome) on Friday 7 August 2026 at 3.30 pm.

Bruno Battisti D'Amario (Rome, 5 October 1937) was one of the most famous Italian guitarists, composers and teachers of the twentieth century, inextricably linked to the history of the soundtracks of Italian and international cinema. He studied at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome under the informal guidance and help of Mario Gangi. He later studied composition with Domenico Guaccero and Ennio Morricone.

He has long held the Chair of Classical Guitar at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples and has taught in prestigious specialization courses (Ravello, Pescara, Città di Castello). In 2001 he was awarded the "Golden Guitar" for teaching in Alessandria.

His guitar can be heard in some of the most iconic soundtracks in the history of cinema: A Fistful of Dollars (1964); For a Few Dollars More (1965); The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966); Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

D’AMARIO, Bruno Battisti

Born: 10/5/1937, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 8/5/2026, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Bruno Battisti D’Amario’s westerns – musician:

Fistful of Dollars – 1964 [solo guitar]

For a Few Dollars More – 1965 [solo guitar]

A Bullet for the General – 1966 [solo guitar]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 [solo guitar]

Once Upon a Time in the West – 1968 [solo guitar]

Duck You Sucker – 1972 [solo guitar]

My Name is Nobody – 1973 [solo guitar]