Who's Next To Croak?

[squints]

"RIP Hightower. I hope they do the right thing and rip the front seat out of the hearse to make your casket fit comfortably inside."
- @MarylandMudflap

[mogwai]

Warrant singer Jani Lane found dead

Jani Lane, the former singer with hair metal band Warrant, has been found dead. He was 47.

Lane's body was found yesterday (August 11) in a Comfort Inn motel room in the Woodland Hills area of California, near Los Angeles. No cause of death has yet been established.

He fronted the band until 2004 then appeared on the US reality show Celebrity Fit Club, rejoining the band in 2008 but leaving again only months later. Warrant's best known hit with Lane on board was 1990's 'Cherry Pie' which shot to notoriety, not least because of its saucy video.

Since leaving Warrant, Lane had been arrested twice for drink driving and had also spent time in jail, reports Billboard.

Lane was born in Ohio on February 1, 1964 as John Kennedy Oswald. He changed his name in 1983 before moving to Los Angeles to start a band.

He was married three times and is survived by a wife and four children.

[Ravi]

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/09/07/george_kuchar_filmmaker_and_provocateur_who_inspired_john_waters_dead_at_69

George Kuchar, Filmmaker and Provocateur Who Inspired John Waters, Dead at 69
By Bradford Nordeen (September 7, 2011)

indieWIRE has just learned of the passing late last night of George Kuchar, whose body of film and video work inspired many filmmakers, many of them his students and not the least of which is John Waters.  He is survived by his twin brother, Mike, with whom he resided in San Francisco.

Bradford Nordeen, the curator of New York's Dirty Looks queer screening series (which recently screened three of the Kuchars' films on the brothers' 69th birthday) has kindly shared his words about George to indieWIRE.

George Kuchar was a man of many careers. He began making 8mm films at the age of twelve, collaborations with his twin brother, Mike, on a camera gifted from their parents. These early works are sensational remakes of the movies that played in their local Bronx theaters. Even in their adolescence, the twins showed an alarming understanding of cinematic conventions, with special respect paid to woman's pictures (George's fave) and swords and sandals epics (Mike's). Fusing toilet humor with wrenching pathos, these early films were profoundly camp and made a huge impact on a young John Waters. "The Kuchar borthers," Waters would later explain in the introduction to George and Mike's illustrated memoirs, "Reflections in a Cinematic Cesspool," "gave me the self confidence to believe in my own tawdry vision." Throughout his early career, George worked by day in commercial arts, an industry he described as "that Midtown Manhattan world of angst and ulcers."

By the mid-sixties, however, the Kuchars were discovered by the burgeoning Underground Film movement and heralded by Jonas Mekas in his Village Voice column and in the magazine Film Culture. In the latter publication, George's writings appeared alongside prominent figures like Andrew Sarris, Jack Smith and Gregory Markopoulos. After accepting an invitation to teach a summer course at San Francisco Art Institute in the early 1970s, George met Curt McDowell, a student-then-lover, who campaigned to secure a permanent faculty position for George, where he would teach for the remainder of his life. The duo collaborated on many films, including George's "The Devil's Cleavage" and McDowell's experimental/horror/porno, "Thundercrack!," where George also stars - opposite his character's love interest, a gorilla.

George changed with the times, influencing a whole new generation when he embraced consumer grade video. He humorously described himself as "a traitor to his medium [film]," but George galvanized the video form with his signature gusto, yielding dozens of video diaries (most renowned were "The Weather Diaries," in which George documented seasonal – as well as emotional – storms in Oklahoma). Also a skilled visual artist, George worked alongside leading graphic artists like Art Spiegelman and Bill Griffith, exhibiting internationally. Recent venues included [ 2nd floor projects ] in San Francisco, Mulherin + Pollard in New York and ADA Gallery in Virginia.

George inspired four decades of SFAI graduates, who played cast and crew to a yearly creature feature course, making movies like "The Fury of Frau Frankenstein" and "Jewel of Jeopardy." George was cherished, by his SFAI students and international audiences alike, for his wild humor, exuberant spirit and intuitive production ethic; if something didn't work in a "picture" (as George referred to all his works), he merely changed the story to suit the circumstance. This approach led to his magnum opus, "Hold Me While I'm Naked," 1966 an early solo venture which became a film about isolation and filmmaking when regular actress Donna Kerness abandoned the project. The result was named one of the 100 best films of the 20th Century by the Village Voice. Truly one of the most visionary artists of his time, George's impact on six decades of film, visual art and popular culture is immeasurable.

[Reel]

He was great. I forgot which of his videos I saw, but it was so funny! I'd never seen anything like it, I'm gonna have to find more of those..

[Ravi]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spartacus-star-andy-whitfield-dies-233937

Former 'Spartacus' Star Andy Whitfield Dies of Lymphoma
6:49 PM PDT 9/11/2011 by THR staff

Andy Whitfield, the former star of Starz's drama series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, died Sunday of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Sydney, his manager Sam Maydew told the Associated Press. He was 39.

Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht said he and his network colleagues are "deeply saddened" over the news.

"We were fortunate to have worked with Andy in Spartacus and came to know that the man who played a champion onscreen was also a champion in his own life," Albrecht said. " Andy was an inspiration to all of us as he faced this very personal battle with courage, strength and grace. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time. He will live on in the hearts of his family, friends and fans."

Whitfield's wife Vashti in a statement called her husband a "beautiful young warrior" who died on a "sunny Sydney morning" in the "arms of his loving wife."

Whitfield -- who was born in Wales and lived in Australia -- was a virtual unknown when he was cast as the title hero in Spartacus, a hit original series that made waves with its graphic violence and sexuality.

Whitfield was preparing for the second season when he was diagnosed 18 months ago.

In January, the network announced that another Australian actor, Liam McIntyre, would take over the role.

[pete]

he was a cool dude:

[Jeremy Blackman]

Pete, please tell me you were involved with that video.

[pete]

sorry dude.
that guy that looks like a shorter much cooler version of me is currently a huge youtube star. they did this.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I knew that wasn't you but I was still hoping you were behind the scenes. It has the feel of some of your videos and even a similar setting.

[pete]

that's really flattering. I wish I knew how to please 5 million people every week.
but anyways - this video was my only exposure of andy whitfield, and he seemed to be a very cool guy who contacted those videogame filmmaker kids just because he liked what he saw on youtube, and spent a day with them. that's a cool dude.

[Pubrick]

kubrick's best friend


John Calley, longtime studio chief and producer, dies at 81
September 13, 2011 |  8:54 am

John Calley, a well-known Hollywood figure who led three studios, including most recently Sony Pictures, and produced films such as "Catch-22," "The Remains of the Day" and "The Da Vinci Code," died Tuesday at age 81.

Calley had been ill for several years and his death was confirmed by Steve Elzer, a spokesman for Sony. The precise cause of death was not immediately available.

Born in Jersey City, N.J., in 1930, Calley began his career in the NBC mail room at age 21. He rose through the entertainment industry over the next several decades before becoming associated with the emergence of new voices in Hollywood during the 1960s and early 1970s. While at production company Filmways he produced "Catch-22," an adaptation of the satirical World War II novel written by Joseph Heller. It was directed by Mike Nichols, who became a longtime friend of Calley's.

In 1969 Calley began an 11-year tenure at Warner Bros., where he served as production chief, president and vice chairman and worked on movies such as "The Exorcist," "Dirty Harry," "A Clockwork Orange," "All the President's Men" and "Superman."

He shocked Hollywood in 1980 by quitting his job, beginning a nearly decade-long absence from the business. In 1989 he returned to produce films with Nichols.

"As a friend [John] was always there and always funny," Nichols said in a statement released by Sony. "As a studio head he was unfailingly supportive and didn't try to do the filmmaker's job. When he believed in someone he trusted and supported him and when very rarely he had a suggestion it was usually a life saver. In fact  that's what he was: a life saver."

In 1993 Calley became president and chief operating officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, working there for three years before shifting to Sony Pictures. He was named president of the Culver City studio in 1996 and promoted to chairman and chief executive officer in 1998. In keeping with the times, he worked on big-budget blockbusters such as "Men in Black" and "Spider-Man" while running Sony before retiring in 2003.

He produced several films after leaving the studio, including the global hit "The Da Vinci Code" and its sequel, "Angels and Demons."

Calley was the recipient of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Award in 2009, an honorary Oscar given to producers. He was unable to accept in person due to illness.

Calley is survived by daughter Sabrina Calley and stepchildren Emily Zinnerman, David Zinnerman and Will Firth. Memorial arrangements are being planned and will be held at the Sony Pictures lot.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/john-calley-longtime-studio-chief-and-producer-dies-at-81.html

[O.]

Not sure if he's the studio exec I remember seeing from Kubrick's biographical documentary, but if so, that's a damn shame.

[Sleepless]

Character actress Frances Bay dies at 92. She was in Twin Peaks, Seinfeld, Happy Gilmore, Happy Days and an episode of The X-Files.

[Pozer]

Steve Jobs. pretty sure.

[Derek]

Charles Napier