Who's Next To Croak?

[72teeth]

Lionel Mark Smith died...
he played the pimp in "Edmond" and was in a bunch of Mamet films... and he was the black detective in "Magnolia"...

"Help us help your son, Marcie," I believe was his line....

[polkablues]

He was no squints' cat.

[MacGuffin]

Warner Bros. gobbles up New Line
Company ends 40-year run as indie studio
Source" Variety

New Line's 40-year run as an independent studio ended Thursday when Time Warner said it would fold the company into Warner Bros.

Co-toppers Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are ankling but are in talks to continue some business relationship with Warners.

The move came a mere four years after New Line's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won the Best Picture Oscar and grossed $1.1 billion worldwide. Since then, however, New Line's performance has been drab with only a single breakout in "Wedding Crashers."

The move to fold in New Line was not a surprise following a Feb. 6 announcement by Time Warner president and CEO Jeff Bewkes. Citng the trend toward fewer releases, Bewkes said New Line would be the focus of budget cuts and layoffs in order to save $50 million annually.

Bewkes said Thursday that Time Warner's moving quickly to improve business performance and financial returns.

"New Line has built a strong franchise of cutting-edge entertainment," he said. "We can enhance its value by combining it with Warner Bros. Given the trend toward fewer movie releases, New Line and Warner Bros. will now have more complementary release slates, with New Line focusing on genres that have been its strength."

Bewkes also said New Line would no longer sell off international rights to finance films. "With the growing importance of international revenues, it makes sense for New Line to retain its international film rights and to exploit them through Warner Bros.' global distribution infrastructure," he added.

The exec said the combo would be able to take better advantage of digital distribution platforms.

In a message to New Line staffers, Shaye and Lynne said New Line will maintain its own identity and will continue to produce, market, and distribute movies. They also warned that New Line will probably be a much smaller operation and said details would be spelled out at meetings in Los Angeles and New York on Friday.

"This was a painful decision, because we love New Line and the people who work here have been like our second families," Shaye and Lynne said. "But we will be leaving the company with enormous pride in what all of us at New Line have accomplished together. From its humble beginnings 40 years ago, our studio has created some of the most popular and successful movies of all time."

[pete]

william f buckley jr. died too.

[cine]

william f buckley jr. died too.

yeah im surprised JB hasn't gone on a posting frenzy about it.

[polkablues]

I thought the sun was shining a little brighter today... 

[mogwai]

Blind rocker Healey dies aged 41

Blind Canadian rock musician Jeff Healey has died in a Toronto hospital aged 41 from a rare form of cancer, his publicist has said.

Healey, famed for playing his electric guitar flat on his lap, died of retinoblastoma which claimed his sight when he was a one-year-old-child.

His 1988 album See The Light was nominated for a Grammy award and sold one million copies in the US.

Healey's latest album was due to be released in Canada on Monday.

Blues rock release Mess of Blues is expected to become available in the US and around Europe later this month and in April.

'Remarkable'

He was also due to appear on Later With Jools Holland and tour the UK and Germany.

His publicist Richard Flohil told broadcaster CTV: "Jeff was an intriguing player to watch, because he played guitar - by any conventional standard - all wrong, with it flat across his lap."

"But he was a remarkable, a virtuoso player," he added.

Colin Bray, a member of Healey's band who was at his bedside when he died, said: "I don't think any of us thought this was going to happen.

"We just thought he was going to bounce back like he always does."

Healey played with blues legend BB King and recorded with Mark Knopfler and the late George Harrison.

He was also a lover of jazz, and hosted radio shows in Canada where he would play music from his record collection, which numbered more than 30,000.

Last year, he underwent cancer surgery on his lungs and legs and had chemotherapy.

The musician is survived by his wife Christie and two children.

[SiliasRuby]

This is a huge loss. I heard about this early monday morning and I was devastated. I really love his music...a blow to me, because his music meant a lot.

[cine]

This is a huge loss. I heard about this early monday morning and I was devastated. I really love his music...a blow to me, because his music meant a lot.

i agree.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

This may not be a big deal to anyone else, but if it wasn't for this guy, I can't imagine how I could've gotten through Junior High.

I probably would've been more productive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080304/ap_en_ot/obit_gygax

Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69
By EMILY FREDRIX

MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and helped start the role-playing phenomenon, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69.

He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.

"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."

Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.

Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.

[cron]

Oscar-winning director Minghella dies


Ben Child and agencies
Tuesday March 18, 2008
guardian.co.uk

Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, has died at the age of 54, his agent said today.
The cause of death has not yet been released.

Minghella won the best director Academy award in 1997, the year in which the film won nine Oscars. He was also nominated for the best adapted screenwriting award in 2000 for The Talented Mr Ripley.

The film-maker recently completed work on the Botswana-set comedy, The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which he directed after co-writing with Four Weddings and a Funeral scribe Richard Curtis. An adaptation of the Alexander McCall Smith novel, it had been due to premiere on BBC1 on Easter Monday.

Article continues

Fellow film director Lord Puttnam said the death was a "shattering blow" to the industry.
"I am shattered. He was a very important person in the film community because not only was he a fine, fine writer ... and made the transfer into becoming a really excellent director, he was also a really beautiful man.

"I just spoke to Alan Parker and it was the line Alan used: he was a beautiful man; he was a lot of fun to be with; he was thoughtful and intelligent.

"Most importantly of all for me, he was one of the few filmmakers who really stepped up to the responsibility - he worked his guts out at the BFI (British Film Institute) to be an effective chair and was an extremely effective chair with the result being that the BFI to an extent is rising from the ashes as never before.

"He's going to be hugely missed. This is a shattering blow from someone who was a major figure in an important industry and had a lot to go on and contribute."

Lord Puttnam said Minghella had been "a storyteller in the classic British tradition". He compared him with David Lean, saying he was particularly good at inspiring great performances from actresses.

Minghella had two projects in the pipeline: New York, I Love You, a celluloid ode to the Big Apple for which he had written and directed a segment, and the drama The Ninth Life of Louis Drax.

The director was born on the Isle of Wight, the son of Gloria and Edward Minghella, who owned an ice-cream factory.

His father was Italian-Scottish and his mother came from Leeds, although her ancestors were also Italian. Minghella attended Sandown grammar school and St John's college in Portsmouth. He is a graduate of the University of Hull, where he completed undergraduate and graduate courses, but eventually abandoned his doctoral thesis.

Minghella worked as a television script editor before making his directing debut in 1990 with Truly, Madly, Deeply, a comedy about love and grief starring Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman. The made-for-TV production proved so popular that it received a cinematic release.

The director also received critical plaudits for his 2003 film Cold Mountain. While Minghella himself did not receive any nominations, it saw Renée Zellweger take the Oscar for best supporting actress, with Jude Law picking up a nomination for best actor.

Minghella began his career in theatre, working as a playwright as well as a director. The plays of Beckett were a lifelong fascination - Play and Happy Days provided his directorial debut - and Minghella presided over a starry gala tribute to celebrate the playwright's 100th birthday in 2006, as well as writing a radio play to commemorate the occasion.

Two volumes of Minghella's own plays were published by Methuen, and he won a number of awards for his theatre writing in the mid-80s.

He returned to the stage in 2005 with a cinematically lavish staging of Puccini's Madam Butterfly at the English National Opera, which disappointed critics but was enthusiastically received by audiences. Last year, it was announced he would direct and write the libretto for a new work at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in the 2011-12 season

At the time of his death Minghella had recently relinquished his role as chairman of the British Film Institute. He was replaced by the former director-general of the BBC, Greg Dyke, on March 1. Minghella was made a CBE in the 2001 Queen's birthday honours list.

[Stefen]

Oh my god. That's terrible. Talented Mr. Ripley is one of the movies that I cite as getting me interested in filmmaking.

Rest in peace Mr. Minghella.

[Ravi]

Oh my god. That's terrible. Talented Mr. Ripley is one of the movies that I cite as getting me interested in filmmaking.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is one of my favorite films as well.  RIP Anthony Minghella.

[Pwaybloe]

According to CNN, he "died of a hemorrhage after a routine operation on his neck."  Botched surgery, it sounds like. 

Anyway, he will be missed.

[edison]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- An aide says science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke has died.

Science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, best known for "2001: A Space Odyssey," was a prolific and best-selling author for four decades with an uncanny ability to predict the impact of technology.

Rohan De Silva says Clarke died early today after suffering from breathing problems. He was 90.