RIP Gabriel Retes

Mexican Filmmaker Gabriel Retes dies at 73

Cinema Tropical

April 20, 2020

Mexican filmmaker Gabriel Retes died today in Mexico City at age 73 of undisclosed causes. A prolific film director, actor, and producer, he directed over 20 feature films and acted in over 50 film productions. He was able to navigate through different stages of Mexican cinema, working with different film format and modes of production, creating a solid and unique filmography including titles such as El Bulto and Bienvenido, Welcome, that have been selected as some of the best Mexican films of all time

Son of theater actor, director and playwright Ignacio Retes and actress Lucila Balzaretti, Retes was born on March 25, 1947 in Mexico City, and began acting at 12. Combining his work as a stage actor and director, he makes hisde but as a film actor in the super 8 short film Ardiendo en el sueño by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, followed by the feature film Cristo 70 by Alejandro Galindo.

In the early seventies he combined his acting career working with film directors such as Alejandro Galindo, Alberto Mariscal, José Estrada and Jorge Fons, with the directing of his own super 8 short films. During these days he creates a solid body of work with titles such as Sur, El paletero, Fragmentos, Tribulaciones en el seno de una familia burguesa, and El asunto. With Taibo II and Eduardo Carrasco Zanini he founded the Marginal Cinema Cooperative, an independent and militant super 8 club dedicated to support the struggles of workers and labor unions through their films.

In 1975, he makes his debut feature film, Chin Chin el Teporocho / Chin Chin the Drunken Bum, the big screen adaptation of the popular novel by Armando Ramírez. Starring Carlos Chávez, Jorge Santoyo, Jorge Balzaretti, Abel Woolrich, Tina Romero, Diana Bracho, and Aarón Hernán, the film tells the story of Rogelio, a young man of humble origin in the neighborhood of Tepito, who falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy grocer, Michelle, but his marriage to her will be a failure and he will end up as a one more drunk. Retes was presented with the Ariel Award for Best First Film by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences.

His second feature film, Nuevo Mundo (1976), the story of a priest set in the 16th century Mexico who converted the local pagan population to Christianity by making a statue of Virgin Mary resembling a native woman, was censored around the controversy it generated on the veracity of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Retes’ third film, Paper Flowers / Flores de papel (1977) participated in the official competition at the 28th edition of the Berlin Film Festival. That same year, Retes created the Cooperativa Rio Mixcoac, and produces his next two feature films; Broken Flag / Bandera rota (1979)—an official selection at the Moscow and Havana Film Festivals—and Mujeres salvajes (1984).

Retes’ 1989 The Naked City / La ciudad al desnudo, tells the story of Alfonso and Aurelia, who with their infant daughter flee the scene of a traffic accident they inadvertently caused, leaving several people seriously injured. The protagonist, Lourdes Elizarrarás was the winner of the Ariel Award for Best Actress.

His 1992 film El Bulto, premiered at the height of the so-called ‘New Mexican Cinema,’ marked an international landmark for the director, screening in numerous international film festivals and winning multiple awards. Starring himself, his father, his son Juan Claudio, his daughter Gabriela, his mother, and his wife Elizarrarás, the film narrates the story of Lauro (Retes) who wakes up after being in a comma for 20 years, and has to confront the realities of a very different country two decades later. Retes was awarded with the Best Actor Award at the Amiens Film Festival.

Retes followed the success of El Bulto with Bienvenido/ Welcome (1994), a poignant and bilingual meta comedy chronicling the making of a low budget film on the effects of AIDS on a marriage. The film also starred himself, his wife, and his son. The film received the third prize for Best Film at the Havana Film Festival, the awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Gramado Film Festival in Brazil, and was the winner of four Ariel Awards for Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Set Design.

In 1999, Retes directed the film adaptation of Guillermo Arriaga’s novel A Sweet Scent of Death / Un dulce olor a muerte starring Diego Luna. The film was the winner of the Best Director Award at the Cartagena Film Festival, and the second prize for Best Film at the Havana Film Festival. More recent directorial credits include Despedida de amor (2003), @Festivbercine.ron (2004), Bienvenido/ Welcome 2 (2006), The Revolution and the Artists (2018), and Identidad Tomada (2020). As an actor he also participated in Carlos Bolado’s Bajo California: El límite del tiempo (1998), Ángel Flores Torres’ Piedras verdes (2001), the Costa Rican film Caribe (2004) by Esteban Ramírez, Alejandro Sugich’s Casi treinta (2014), and Julio Bekhor and Fernando Sma’s El viaje de Keta (2018).

RETES, Gabriel (José Ignacio Gabriel Jorge Retes Balzaretti)

Born: 3/25/1947, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Died: 4/20/2020, Mexico City, Federal District, Mexico

Gabriel Retes’ westerns – director, writer, cinematographer, actor;

Sur – 1969 [director]

Siete muertes para el texano – 1971

They Call Him Marcado – 1971

Los bandidos – 1974 [director, writer, cinematographer]

Cinco mil dolares de recompense – 1974 (Ricky)

La rebellion de los colgados – 1986 [producer]

RIP Tom Lester

The Laurel Leader Call

April 20, 2020

Thomas William Lester
Apr 20, 2020 Updated 1 hr ago

Thomas William Lester, an American actor and evangelist best known as Eb Dawson on the television series "Green Acres," has died. He was 81. Lester died of complications from Parkinson's Disease on April 20, 2020 in the Nashville, Tennessee home of his fiancée and long-term caregiver Jackie Peters.

Lester appeared in nearly every "Green Acres" episode between 1965–71 and appeared in two feature films, "Gordy" and "Benji." He was the last surviving regular cast member of Green Acres.

In 1948, Lester became a born-again Christian. During and after his role as Eb, he became more involved traveling the nation, preaching a message of Christian faith and obedience.

Lester was a conservationist and spent many enjoyable years on his farm in Jasper County, where, in 1997, he was the recipient of Mississippi's "Wildlife Farmer of the Year" award.

Lester was born Sept. 23, 1938 in Laurel, one of two sons of Pat W. Lester (1913-2009), an accountant with Gulf Oil, and Mary Sue (Thornton) Lester (1914- 2009), a manager with Home Interiors and Gifts.

He is survived by his brother Michael T. Lester, a retiree of Corporate Energy in Hattiesburg; two great-nieces, Haleigh and McKenzie; one great-great-niece, Scarlett; and one great-great-nephew, Wes in Newnan, Ga.

Death leaves a heartache,

No one can heal.

Love leaves a memory,

No one can steal.

There will be a graveside service attended by family and close friends at noon on Friday, April 24, 2020 at Hickory Grove Cemetery in Laurel.

The service will be officiated by Dr. Randy Turner of First Baptist Church of Laurel, where Tom was a member for most of his life. There will be a celebration of life service held at a later date to be determined.

Service arrangements by Memory Chapel Funeral Home in Laurel.

To sign the online guestbook, visit www.memorychapellaurel.com.

LESTER, Tom (Thomas William Lester)

Born: 9/23/1938, Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.A.

Died: 4/20/2020, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Tom Lester’s western – actor:

Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1981 (Mr. Wilder)

RIP William S. Myers

William S. Myers
December 5, 1942 - April 13, 2020

Los Angeles Times

April 18, 2020

William Sims Myers, Jr., 77, died peacefully on the evening of April 13, 2020, at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills, CA, due to complications from surgery. Bill, as his friends and associates called him, was born on December 5, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Martha C. Myers and William Sims Myers. Bill hated the sticky heat of his hometown, but loved the local music, and spent much of his youth conning his way into various back-alley venues to listen to it. Bill thought of this as his real schooling, despite the general consensus then that nice young men did not belong in "those kinds of clubs." In this, Bill was ahead of the times – and always one step ahead of his mother. Bill's other passion was the movies, and he knew from a young age that he was destined for Hollywood. His path there was circuitous. After college, he traded orange juice futures in New York City, and then joined his brother-in-law's business in Houston. It was in Texas that Bill broke into the film industry, serving as Unit Production Manager on the movie "Hotwire," and subsequently moving to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter. Bill embraced the inevitable struggle with diligence and good cheer, and before long his hard work paid off with numerous development deals for features as well as a TV series. Bill was a versatile writer, as demonstrated by the two projects he was most proud of: the Doris Roberts' Alzheimer's drama, "A Time To Remember," and "Avenging Angel," a western starring Kevin Sorbo as a preacher turned bounty hunter. Both premiered on the Hallmark Channel to much acclaim. In a notoriously fickle business, Bill maintained a consistent work ethic, showing up at his desk day in and day out. He was a proud and active member of the WGA. He was also generous when it came to other writers, always willing to offer career advice as well as tough but fair notes on their works-in-progress. At the time of his death, a project very close to Bill's heart was attracting investors. Of course, Bill's legacy extends far beyond his professional accomplishments. Those who knew and loved him will most remember his kindness, his humor, and his inimitable sense of style. He leaves behind his beloved wife and best friend, Wanda Shea of Santa Monica, CA; his sister Mary Lynn Marks and brother-in-law J. Stephen Marks of Houston, TX; niece Lisa Marks Schwarz of Sherbourn, MA; and nephew Stephen Marks of Brooklyn, NY; his wife's children Lee Shea of San Francisco, CA, and Martin F. Shea Jr. of Memphis, TN. Bill was much loved by his four step-grandchildren and five grandnieces and -nephews, who adopted him as their own. A memorial service to celebrate Bill's life will be held when circumstances allow.

MYERS, William S. (William Sims Myers)

Born: 12/5/1942, Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A.

Died: 4/13/2020, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.

William S. Myers’ western – writer:

Avenging Angel – (TV) 2007

RIP Arlene Saunders

American Soprano Arlene Saunders, Victim of COVID-19, Dies

Platea Magazine

April 18, 2020

Opera Magazine has mentioned, the American soprano Arlene Saunders has died a victim of the Covid19 coronavirus. Unclear her age, since her date of birth varies from 1930 to 1935 according to sources, the Cleveland-born singer made a career in her country, as well as in the most important European opera houses, debuting at the National Opera Company of United States with the operetta by Johann Strauss, Die Fledermaus.

After singing various roles at the New York City Opera: Micaëla in Carmen , Mimì in La Bohème , Louise de Charpentier, or Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, she began a long and fruitful relationship with the Hamburg Opera, recording some operas on video such as Weber's Der Freischütz, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, or Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. She was named Kammersängerin of the company in 1965 and twenty years later she said goodbye to the stage with Der Rosenkavalier at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

SAUNDERS, Arlene

Born: 10/5/1935, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.

Died: 4/17/2020, New York, New York, U.S.A.

Arlene Saunders’ western – actress:

The Longest Hunt – 1968 (Mrs. Londonderry)

La Fanciulla del West – 1983 (Minnie)

RIP Sergio Fantoni

Sergio Fantoni has died, a life for cinema and screenplays

la Repubblica

April 17, 2020

Actor, voice actor and director he was 89 years old. In his long career he worked with the greatest directors from Luchino Visconti to Blake Edwards, his last TV role was in Commissioner Montalbano

Sergio Fantoni has died, actor, voice actor and director who would have turned 90 in August. In his long career he worked with the greatest directors, from Luchino Visconti to Blake Edwards, he had a Hollywood parenthesis, but his popularity is owed to the scripts of the seventies and eighties such as Anna Karenina, La Piovra and La consciousness di Zeno. His latest TV role was as Sironi's Inspector Montalbano for the episode La voce del violino .

Born in an art family, in Rome on August 7, 1930, he initially thought of becoming an engineer or architect but his passion for theater prevailed and he began to attend experimental theater companies until he created in the seventies, together with Luca Ronconi and his wife Valentina Fortunato, one of the first independent companies. First, however, there had been cinema since the late 1940s and then over time with directors of the caliber of Luchino Visconti (Senso), Francesco Maselli (I delfini, alongside Claudia Cardinale), Giuliano Montaldo (Sacco and Vanzetti ), but also peplums like Esther and the King .

In the 1960s he had experienced a Hollywood parenthesis (which lasted three years, from 1963 to 1966) with appearances in films such as Mark Robson's Intrigue in Stockholm and Von Ryan's Express alongside Frank Sinatra, and then What Did You Do in the War Daddy? by Blake Edwards. In the 1980s he starred in the cult film The Belly of the Architect by British director Peter Greenaway. Fantoni worked on numerous television productions of important literary works and in television dramas which, particularly in the sixties and seventies, have had particular critical and public success. Sergio Fantoni's frontal full nude in State Crime, broadcast on RaiDue in 1982, caused a scandal.

In his long career as a voice actor he has lent his voice to American stars such as Marlon Brando (in Apocalypse Now), Henry Fonda (in Meteor), Rock Hudson (in Giant) and Ben Kingsley (in Gandhi). After an operation on his larynx in 1997 he dedicated himself to theater direction. Together with the playwright and director Ivo Chiesa and his colleague Bianca Toccafondi, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award named after Ennio Flaiano in 2002.

FANTONI, Sergio

Born: 8/7/1930, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 4/17/2020, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Sergio Fantoni’s westerns – actor, dubber:

Giant – 195? [Italian voice of Rock Hudson]

The Badlanders – 1958 [Italian voice of Alan Ladd]

The Law and Jake Wade – 1958 [Italian voice of Robert Taylor]

The Magnificent 7 – 1959 [Italian voice of Robert Vaughn]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 [Italian voice of Jesús Guzmán]

The Price of Power – 1969 [Italian voice of Van Johnson]

Bad Man’s River – 1971 (Colonel Enrique Fierro)

RIP Allen Daviau

‘E.T.,’ ‘Bugsy’ cinematographer Allen Daviau dies at 77

Associated Press

By Lindsey Bahra

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cinematographer Allen Daviau, who shot three of Steven Spielberg’s films including “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” has died. A representative from the American Society of Cinematographers said Wednesday that Daviau died Tuesday at age 77.

A five-time Oscar nominee, Daviau was also behind the camera on “Empire of the Sun,” “Bugsy,” “The Color Purple,” “Avalon” and “Defending Your Life.”

Daviau started his career alongside Spielberg. One of his earliest credits was on Spielberg’s short film “Amblin,” from 1968.

“He will be remembered fondly for his sense of humor, his taste for the best of foods and his laugh that unmistakably marked his presence from far away,” ASC president Kees van Oostrum wrote in an email to members Wednesday.

DAVIAU, Allen (John Allen Daviau)

Born: 6/14/1942, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.

Died: 4/15/2020, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Allen Daviau’s westerns – cinematographer:

The Brothers O’Toole – 1973

Harry Tracy: The Last of the Wild Bunch - 1982

RIP Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy, Burly Actor in 'First Blood,' 'Cocoon' and 'Death of a Salesman,' Dies at 81

The Hollywood Reporter

By Duane Byrge , Mike Barnes

4/16/2020

The two-time Tony winner also starred on TV as basketball coach Bobby Knight, Chicago cop Jack Reed and serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Brian Dennehy, the regular-guy actor whose bulldog build, good-guy demeanor and no-nonsense approach meshed in an array of memorable roles for film, television and the theater, has died. He was 81. 

Dennehy died Wednesday night of natural causes in New Haven, Connecticut.

“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related," his oldest daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, wrote on Twitter. "Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends." 

Dennehy played the sheriff in Washington state who doggedly pursues Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) in First Blood (1982) and a district attorney who's out to save his own skin in the Harrison Ford-starrer Presumed Innocent (1990).

He also portrayed lawmen in Gorky Park (1983), Silverado (1985), F/X (1986) and its sequel, Best Seller (1987), The Last of the Finest (1990) and Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) and starred as hard-charging real-life Chicago detective Jack Reed in five NBC telefilms from 1993 to 1996, writing and directing four of them.

At 6 foot 3 and 250 pounds, the former college offensive lineman could also be a gentle giant, as when he portrayed the sympathetic bartender who counsels Dudley Moore in 10 (1979), the friendly alien leader Walter in Cocoon (1985) and Chris Farley's pop in Tommy Boy (1995).

Dennehy won Tony Awards in 1999 and 2003 for playing Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman — he was the fourth actor to play the iconic role on Broadway — and Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night.

In the former, the imposing actor displayed "a grand emotional expansiveness that matches his monumental physique," Ben Brantley wrote in his New York Times review. "Yet these emotions ring so unerringly true that Mr. Dennehy seems to kidnap you by force, trapping you inside Willy's psyche."

He also starred opposite Christopher Plummer in a 2007 Broadway revival of Inherit the Wind.

Whenever he could, Dennehy retreated to the stage in Chicago, saying he preferred the Midwest "because I can sit down with rational people who make $50,000 a year and live in houses and have children and pay their taxes and shop at Sears."

He said he chose to live on a farm in northeast Connecticut because the biggest celebrity in his town was the guy who played Big Bird.

Brian Manion Dennehy was born on July 9, 1938, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the oldest of three boys. His grandparents came to the U.S. from Ireland, and his father, Edward, worked as a writer and editor for the Associated Press.

Raised in Red Hook in Brooklyn before moving at age 12 to Long Island, he was an offensive tackle for the football team at Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York. His coach once mentioned to him that " ' as a football player, you'd make a great actor.' And we started doing theater," he told Newsday in 2013.

Dennehy also played football at Columbia University, spent time in the U.S. Marine Corps — though he would backtrack on a story he related about serving in Vietnam — and attended Yale as a graduate student. Early on, he honed his acting chops in regional theater, supporting himself as a meat truck driver, a Merrill Lynch stockbroker and a bartender.

He scored a big break when he was cast in David Rabe's off-Broadway Vietnam War play Streamers and won acclaim.

After guest-starring roles on shows including Kojak, Police Woman and M*A*S*H, Dennehy fittingly made his movie debut in the Burt Reynolds comedy Semi-Tough (1977), playing a football player who dangles a woman over the ledge of a terrace. 

In 1978, he appeared with Stallone in F.I.S.T. and as a San Francisco cop in Foul Play, then was given a shot at starring on his own TV series. He portrayed a hotel house detective on the 1979 CBS crime drama Big Shamus, Little Shamus, but it lasted just two episodes.

After recurring as D.A. Jake Dunham on ABC's Dynasty, he played a father and fire captain on ABC's Star of the Family, but it was axed after 10 episodes in 1982. (His other short-lived shows included 1994's Birdland, on which he played a hospital chief of psychiatry, and 2001's The Fighting Fitzgerald — he was a retired firefighter in the one.)

Dennehy had more television success in one-offs, collecting five Emmy nominations for his work in telefilms and miniseries. He received one for Showtime's filmed version of Death of a Salesman and one in 1992 for starring as serial killer John Wayne Gacy in Fox's To Catch a Killer.

He also delivered a fiery portrayal of college basketball coach Bobby Knight in the 2002 ESPN movie A Season on the Brink, based on the John Feinstein book.

More recently, Dennehy had recurring roles as an Irish mob boss on Public Morals, a sheriff on Hap and Leonard and a KGB agent on The Blacklist.

His expansive résumé also included the films Never Cry Wolf (1983), Legal Eagles (1986), The Belly of an Architect (1987) — one of his favorite films — Return to Snowy River (1988), Gladiator (1992), The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), She Hate Me (2004), Righteous Kill (2008), The Next Three Days (2010), Knight of Cups (2015), The Seagull (2018) and Driveways (2019).

Survivors include his second wife, a costume designer he wed in 1989; his children Elizabeth, Kathleen, Dierdre, Cormac and Sarah; and grandchildren Jack, William, Clementine, Hannah, Molly, Olivia and Lucy.

DENNEHY, Brian (Brian Manion Dennehy)

Born: 7/9/1938, Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Died: 4/15/2020, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Brian Dennehy’s westerns – actor:

Butch and Sundance: The Early Days – 1979 (O.C. Hanks)

Silverado – 1985 (Cobb)

Tall Tales & Legends (TV) – 1985 (Buffalo Bill)

Return to Snowy River – 1988 (Harrison)

Dead Man’s Walk – 1996 (TV) (Major Chevallier)