Who's Next To Croak?

[mogwai]

Rapper Nate Dogg dies aged 41

His death was confirmed late last night (March 15) in his home town of Long Beach, California by the Press-Telegram. The cause of death is not yet confirmed.

Dogg, real name Nathaniel D Hale, had suffered two strokes previously – one in 2007 and another in 2008.

The rapper made his debut on Dr. Dre's 1992 debut solo album 'The Chronic' and went on to sign with Death Row Records. He also collaborated with Eminem, Ludacris, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Warren G.

He released three studio albums of his own, most recently his 2004 self-titled effort.

[Pas]

He looked like a criminal. More than they usually do.

Not black people I mean gangster rap people.

[mogwai]

He looked like a criminal. More than they usually do.

Not black people I mean gangster rap people.

Gangster people like this?

[Reel]

OH NO! is all I can say to this, it was a pretty good song he did the chorus on with Mos Def and Pharoah Monche, I don't mean to spoil his legacy or anything but the dude always featured on songs, it seemed like he never did anything of his own, got a good hook voice.

[Pubrick]

not spoiling anything because he was quite renown for being the go-to guy for hooks.

i think he carved out a good niche for himself, way better than warren G or some of the other ppl whose songs he appeared on.. i mean you could always count on nate dogg doing his thing and getting the hell out unscathed and with smooooooth vocals intact.

pretty young tho.

[tpfkabi]

When celebs/musicians start talking about Nate it is going to piss me off. Did they support 213 (the group/album that was made up of Snoop/Warren G/Nate)? Did they use their $/influence to visit Nate in the hospital or to help him in any way? Warren G is the only person I have heard talk about Nate being sick and ask for prayers. I hope others have and it just hasn't been publicized.

This also kills hope of not hearing Auto-Tune on every hook. Detox is looking potentially worse and worse...

[Tryskadekafobia]

Michael Gough, Alfred the butler in Batman, dies aged 94
Source: The Playlist

Very sad news today with the announcement that Michael Gough, the actor perhaps best known for playing Alfred, Bruce Wayne's loyal butler in the two Tim Burton and two Joel Schumacher Batman movies, has passed away at the age of 94. He's survived by his fourth wife, Henrietta.

The actor was born in Kuala Lumpur in 1916, he then returned to England for his childhood, becoming an actor in 1936. Ten years of stage work followed, before making his screen debut in the melodrama "Blanche Fury." Consistent film and TV work followed, including one of the murderer in Laurence Olivier's adaptation of "Richard III," and the classic Powell & Pressburger WWII drama "Ill Met By Moonlight."

He became something of a staple of classic British horror, appearing as Arthur Holmwood in Hammer's seminal "Dracula," opposite Christopher Lee as the Count, as Lord Ambrose in the same studio's version of "The Phantom of the Opera," and in other genre pictures like "Dr. Terror's House of Horror" and "Horrors of the Black Museum."

Gough continued to work solidly, in theatre (winning a Tony for "Bedroom Farce" in 1979), in high-class pictures like Ken Russell's "Women in Love," Joseph Losey's "The Go-Between" and "Out of Africa" and on TV, racking up memorable appearances on "Doctor Who" and "The Avengers." One of our personal favorite roles was as the captured father in the Zucker Brothers' permanently unsung comedy "Top Secret!"

But it was probably his horror work was ensured his late, worldwide fame. Through Tim Burton—a notable fan of British horror—he was cast as Alfred in 1989's "Batman," and the actor would go on to reprise the role in "Batman Returns," "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin," remaining reliably excellent even as the films around him dipped in quality. As successfully as Michael Caine reinvented the role in Christopher Nolan's films, Gough perhaps remains the iconic representation of Alfred.

The films gave Gough a new lease of life with filmmakers—he cropped up in Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence," and gave a wonderful performance as Feers in 1999's "The Cherry Orchard," opposite Alan Bates and Charlotte Rampling.  His last on-screen performance was again with Burton, nodding to his horror background with a lovely cameo in "Sleepy Hollow," and, although he was ill for the last few years of his life, worked again with Burton twice more, lending his voice to both "Corpse Bride" and last year's "Alice in Wonderland."

[MacGuffin]

Elizabeth Taylor dead at 79

(CNN) --Elizabeth Taylor, the legendary actress famed for her beauty, her jet-set lifestyle, her charitable endeavors and her many marriages, has died, her publicist told CNN Wednesday. She was 79. Taylor died "peacefully today in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles," said a statement from her publicist. She was hospitalized six weeks ago with congestive heart failure, "a condition with which she had struggled for many years. Though she had recently suffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home. Sadly, this was not to be." Though a two-time Oscar winner --for "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966) --Taylor was more celebrated for simply being Elizabeth Taylor: sexy, glamorous, tempestuous, fragile, always trailing courtiers, media and fans. She wasn't above playing to that image --she had a fragrance called "White Diamonds" --or mocking it.

[Ravi]

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-farley-granger-20110330,0,5937382.story

Farley Granger dies at 85; handsome leading man best known for roles in Hitchcock films
By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times
March 30, 2011

Farley Granger, a handsome young leading man during Hollywood's post-World War II era who was best known for his starring roles in the Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers "Strangers on a Train" and "Rope," has died. He was 85.

Granger died of natural causes Sunday at his home in Manhattan, said a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office.

In a career that began as a teenager when he was discovered in a local play by a casting director for producer Samuel Goldwyn, Granger made his film debut as a Russian youth in the 1943 film "The North Star."

He went on to star in movies such as Nicholas Ray's 1949 noir masterpiece "They Live by Night," Anthony Mann's 1950 crime drama "Side Street" and Luchino Visconti's 1954 historical epic "Senso."

"Slim and handsome, he possessed a sensitivity that could suggest a dark side to his characters as well as their vulnerability," film reviewer Kevin Thomas, then a Times staff writer, wrote in 2003.

In the 1948 film "Rope" with James Stewart, Granger and John Dall play two young friends who commit a murder and hide the body in their apartment. Hitchcock famously shot the film in uninterrupted 10-minute takes.

In Hitchcock's 1951 classic "Strangers on a Train," Granger plays a tennis champion whose chance meeting with a suave psychopath on a train later threatens to destroy not only his career but his life.

"He played sensitive, romantic and sometimes doomed heroes," Thomas said Tuesday, noting that Granger "had a natural elegance and grace."

"He was very popular back in the day; he was sort of a heartthrob. The studios' publicity machines were still going full force, and he was all over the movie magazines in the late '40s and early '50s."

Granger recounted his days as a leading man in his 2007 memoir "Include Me Out: My Life From Goldwyn to Broadway," which included the revelation that he was bisexual. He wrote the book with Robert Calhoun, his partner since the early 1960s.

In the book, Granger candidly discussed his romances, flings and affairs with men and women, including actresses Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck and Shelley Winters, as well as composer Leonard Bernstein and playwright Arthur Laurents (who wrote the screenplay for "Rope").

"I had never hidden anything, and nobody asked me any questions," Granger told the Associated Press in 2007. "My only outing came eight or 10 years ago when I was an old man. Arthur Laurents gave an interview in which he outed me publicly."

The son of a successful car dealership owner, Granger was born in San Jose on July 1, 1925. After the 1929 stock market crash, the newly poor family moved to Los Angeles, where Granger was discovered at 17 and signed a $100-a-week contract with the Goldwyn studio.

After appearing in his second film, the 1944 World War II drama "The Purple Heart," Granger enlisted in the Navy and spent most of his wartime service in Hawaii.

Several years after resuming his film career, Granger became unhappy with some of the "junk" films he was required to appear in on loan from Goldwyn, who would suspend him without pay for refusing roles.

In 1953, Granger bought out his contract with Goldwyn and left Hollywood to study acting and try his hand at stage work in New York.

"It cost me every penny I had," he wrote in his book, but "I was following my heart and doing what I had to do."

In addition to starring in movies such as "The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" and "The Naked Street," Granger spent most of the 1950s appearing frequently on live TV anthology series such as "Playhouse 90" and "The United States Steel Hour."

He later made occasional guest appearances on TV series such as "Matt Helm" and "The Love Boat" and appeared on soap operas including "The Edge of Night" and "One Life to Live."

Despite a number of Broadway credits, tours with the National Repertory Theatre and a 1986 Obie Award for his performance in the off-Broadway play "Talley & Son," Granger told the New York Times in 2007 that his years on stage never measured up to his hopes.

Looking back on his career in a 2007 interview with the Star-Ledger of New Jersey, Granger said: "It was just luck. And stubbornness. I wasn't going to listen to anyone saying you can't do this, you can't do that. I didn't care about that. I was just going to go my own way. I was just determined to live my own life."

Calhoun, Granger's longtime partner, who was an executive producer on "As the World Turns" and "Guiding Light," died in 2008.

[Fernando]

RIP Sidney Lumet, he was 86.

[Reel]

Damn, he had one helluva carreer, and he beat Sydney Pollack! not that its a race...

I'm going to watch all his movies now

[The Perineum Falcon]

RIP Sidney Lumet, he was 86.

I've just begun to read Making Movies, and even though I am not well versed ("viewed"?) in his work, I have immense respect for the thought, care, and attention he displays for the craft in his writing. 12 Angry Men is wonderful, and Dog Day Afternoon was one of the first 70s Hollywood films I remember seeing--and who could ever forget Network?

I'm not sad to hear of his passing, just grateful that he was here long enough to leave us with indelible classics. I think I'll catch up on his work this weekend.

[Gold Trumpet]

Lumet was a pro. In the world of filmmakers and directors, he was more of a director. Rarely ever did he have a hand in crafting the scripts for his films, but his ability to understand scripts and discern what style was appropriate is amazing. Old Hollywood filmmakers are commended for being able to go from genre to genre, but they never had to make the stylistic decisions that Lumet had to. They also never had the studio insecurity Lumet had. He's the post-old studio version of the classical director since he had to make the most out of a career by going from studio to studio and relying on an unstable marketplace to direct enough films that his schedule looked almost regular. In an interview once, he said he had to just take projects sometimes to keep working. It's the story of almost every director these days, but Lumet managed a longer list of great movies with impeccable directing than almost anyone else. For the workman director, no one topped him in America.

[samsong]

personally the great work horse american director is john ford, but to each his own.

sidney lumet's q&a after a screening of serpico is one of very few pleasant q&as ive attended, and not for my normal reason of enjoying facetious answers from the likes of david lynch and apichatpong weerasethakul in response to inane "what did this/that mean" questions.  he spoke with such fervor and very memorably talked shit about auteurism in cinema.  not that i agree but he made a compelling, cranky old man argument that i found endearing.  "un film de, what the fuck is that?"   

guess i should see 12 angry men now...

[Reel]

yes, you should.  He really did go out with a bang doing 'Before the Devil Knows your dead' last, which I might argue is one of the best films of the past decade.  I wasn't sure if he did anything after that but the 80's is some age to still be directing in. How many have done it besides him and Altman? I also had no idea he did 'The Wiz' too, but in between that and 'the Devil' he did some really like, obscure stuff that's probably all pretty good. Any of it you guys can recommend?