With his partner, Mike Stoller, the lyricist created many of rock’s lushest, most foundational, most irresistible hits
Remembrance
Raul Ruiz, 1941–2011: Death of a Little-Known Movie Master
The Chilean filmmaker produced a body of work so inventive, demanding and rewarding that he deserves to be in the company of giants such as Bergman, Godard, and Fellini
Provocateur Gualtiero Jacopetti Dead at 91: Honoring the Man Behind the Mondo Movies
Jacopetti’s Mondo Cane was a worldwide phenomenon. But his vigorous mix of doc and shock got him charged with murder
Sherwood Schwartz Dies at 94
At the height of his TV-writing career, Sherwood Schwartz probably did not particularly anticipate being eulogized by TV critics. Schwartz, who died today at age 94, was the creator of Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch, two sitcoms that were practically critical shorthand for ridiculous and/or lightweight comedy. Therefore, …
Peter Falk: The One-Eyed Man Was King
Best known as TV’s wily, shambling Lt. Columbo, Falk was also a working-class movie hero, in a half-century career playing comic gangsters, harried husbands and one great granddad
Peter Falk Dies at 83
Actor Peter Falk reportedly died last night at age 83, at his home in Beverly Hills. According to his daughter, reports USA Today, Falk had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
As an actor, Falk was a performer who was more than he at first seemed: he had a famously raspy, tough-guy manner of speech, but performed …
James Arness, 1923–2011
James Arness, who for 20 years personified the upright Western lawman as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, has died of natural causes at age 88. I’ll be honest: Gunsmoke was before my time as a TV viewer, and is enough outside my taste as a critic that I never watched it much as an adult. But by any measure Arness’ run on the show, and the …
Jeff Conaway Dies At Age 60
Jeff Conaway, star of Taxi and Grease and of an unfortunate tabloid/reality-TV saga, has died at age 60, after being taken off life support following a reported overdose of painkillers. It is sad news, and news that most of us would be lying to say we were shocked by. As chronicled on Celebrity Rehab, Conaway had fought addiction for …
CNBC: Squawk Box's Mark Haines Dies at 65
CNBC just issued the sudden and sad news that Mark Haines, founding anchor of the channel’s signature program Squawk Box, died last night. The channel has launched a lot of business-news stars in its time, but Haines was as close as anyone to being its defining face and voice. Like a lot of financial laymen, I’m sure, I watch …
Tim Hetherington: War Hero Who Shot With a Camera
The Restrepo director was both a soldier among frontline photographers and a missionary with no dogma but to give people the look and feel of the wars their governments wage in their name
Elizabeth Taylor's Littlest Role
Word has come out that legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor has died. I will leave it to my colleagues on the film side to properly eulogize her life and career, but I wanted to take a second to remember one of her appearances on TV. Her part consisted of just one word, but her appearance as Maggie remains one of the most famous guest …
Columnist, Pundit, MTP Eminence David Broder Dies
The Washington Post announced today that 81-year-old political columnist David Broder has died of complications from diabetes. The dean of Washington journalists (an unofficial title he carried most of his professional life) was one of the most important chroniclers and explainers of the American presidency for over half a century. …
Remembering Jane Russell: Brunette Bombshell
Back then they were called bosoms. Jane Russell had some, and Howard Hughes knew what to do with them. Russell’s breasts — not actors Walter Huston and Thomas Mitchell — were the stars of Hughes’s 1943 western The Outlaw. …
