Joseph Wiseman, a longtime stage and screen actor most widely known for playing the villainous title character in Dr. No, the first feature film about James Bond, died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 91.
His daughter, Martha Graham Wiseman, confirmed the death, saying her father had recently been in declining health.
Released in 1962, “Dr. No†was the first in what proved to be a decades-long string of Bond movies. Starring Sean Connery and Ursula Andress, the film featured Mr. Wiseman as Dr. Julius No, the sinister scientist who was Bond’s first big-screen adversary.
Mr. Wiseman's other film credits include Detective Story(1951); Viva Zapata!1952); The Garment Jungle(1957); The Unforgiven(1960);The Night They Raided Minsky(1968) and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974).
He had guest roles on many television shows, among them Law & Order,The Streets of San Francisco, The Untouchables and The Twilight Zone. In the late 1980s, he had a recurring role as the crime boss Manny Weisbord on the NBC drama Crime Story.
On Broadway, Mr. Wiseman was seen most recently, in 2001, as a witness for the prosecution in Abby Mann's stage adaptation of his film drama Judgment at Nuremberg. In 1994, he appeared Off Broadway in the Tony Kushner play Slavs! in the role of Prelapsarianov,mthe world's oldest living Bolshevik.
Writing in The New York Times, Vincent Canby said Mr. Wiseman played Prelapsarianov to frail perfection.
Joseph Wiseman was born in Montreal on May 15, 1918, and moved to the United States with his family when he was a boy. His first Broadway role was in the company of Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938). Among his many other Broadway credits are Joan of Lorraine (1946), Antony and Cleopatra(1947), Detective Story(1949); The Lark(1955) and the title role in In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1969).
Mr. Wiseman first marriage, to Nell Kinard, ended in divorce; his second wife, the choreographer Pearl Lang, died in February. In addition to his daughter, Martha, from his marriage to Ms. Kinard, Mr. Wiseman is survived by a sister, Ruth Wiseman.
Vic Mizzy, a film and television composer best known for writing the memorable theme songs for the 1960s sit-coms Green Acres and The Addams Family, has died. He was 93.
Mizzy died of heart failure Saturday at his home in Los Angeles' Bel-Air neighborhood, said Scott Harper, a friend and fellow composer.
A veteran writer of popular songs such as There's a Faraway Look in Your Eye and Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes, Mizzy launched his TV career in 1960 when he was asked to compose music for the dramatic anthology series ``Moment of Fear.''
Then came an offbeat assignment: The Addams Family, the 1964-66 TV series based on Charles Addams' macabre magazine cartoons and starring John Astin as Gomez Addams and Carolyn Jones as his wife, Morticia.
For his theme song, Mizzy played a harpsichord, which gives the theme its unique flavor. And because Filmways refused to pay for singers, Mizzy sang it himself and overdubbed it three times.
The song, memorably punctuated by finger-snapping, begins with: ``They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, they're altogether ooky: the Addams family.''
In the 1996 book TV's Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes From `Dragnet' to `Friends,' '' author Jon Burlingame writes that Mizzy's ``musical conception was so specific that he became deeply involved with the filming of the main-title sequence, which involved all seven actors snapping their fingers in carefully timed rhythm to Mizzy's music.''
For Mizzy, who owned the publishing rights to The Addams Family theme, it was an easy payday.
``I sat down; I went `buh-buh-buh-bump (snap snap), buh-buh-buh-bump,'' he recalled in a 2008 interview on CBS' ``Sunday Morning'' show. ``That's why I'm living in Bel-Air: Two finger snaps, and you live in Bel-Air.''
The season after The Addams Family debuted, Mizzy composed the title song for Green Acres, the 1965-71 rural comedy starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor.
For Green Acres, Burlingame observed in his book, Mizzy ``again conceived the title song as intertwined with the visuals'' of the show's opening title sequence and telling the story of wealthy Oliver and Lisa Douglas moving from New York City to a farm in the country.
Burlingame on Monday described the themes for The Addams Family and Green Acres as ``two of the best-remembered sit-com themes of all time.''
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/george_tuska_1916_2009/
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Pamela Blake
Actress in action serials
Pamela Blake, 94, a B-movie actress known for her roles in such late 1940s action serials as "Chick Carter, Detective" and "Ghost of Zorro," died of natural causes Tuesday at a Las Vegas care facility, her family said.
Born in 1915 in Oakland, Blake came to Hollywood after winning a beauty contest at age 17. Originally known by her given name, Adele Pearce, she adopted the stage name Pamela Blake in 1942, the same year she signed with MGM, according to the All Movie Internet database.
From 1934 to 1954, Blake appeared in about 50 films, and had a minor breakthrough in the classic 1942 film noir "This Gun for Hire" with Alan Ladd. That same year, she also appeared in the popular "Maisie Gets Her Man" with Ann Sothern and Red Skelton, and the western "The Omaha Trail" with James Craig.
By the early 1950s, she was regularly appearing in TV westerns such as "The Cisco Kid" and "The Range Rider."
In 1953, she moved to Las Vegas and permanently retired to raise her two children with Mike Stokey, who created the TV game show "Pantomime Quiz." That marriage, and an earlier one to actor and stuntman Malcolm "Bud" McTaggart, ended in divorce.
She was the widow of John Canavan, an Air Force master sergeant she married in 1983. Her son, Michael Stokey II, has been a military advisor on such films as "The Thin Red Line" (1998) and "Tropic Thunder" (2008).
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Barry Letts, producer of Doctor Who through one of its most fondly-remembered periods with Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor from 1970 to 1974, has died at the age of eighty-four.
Previously an actor, Letts moved behind the camera in the 1960s, finding work as a director on several programmes for BBC television. He first worked on Doctor Who as director of the 1968 Patrick Troughton serial Enemy of the World, before accepting the job of producer during production Jon Pertwee's first season, in 1969. Working closely in association with script editor Terrance Dicks, Letts oversaw the creative direction and production of the programme for the following five seasons.
In addition to his producing role, Letts also directed several serials during his time in charge of the programme - Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters and Planet of the Spiders. In addition, he handled much of the direction for Inferno after Douglas Camfield was taken ill, and after leaving the series as producer he directed The Android Invasion for his successor, Philip Hinchcliffe. He also co-wrote The Daemons with Robert Sloman (under the pseudonym 'Guy Leopold') and worked closely with Sloman on the writer's other scripts for the programme.
Letts's legacy to the programme included the creation of the character Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen on the BBC to this day, and the decision to cast Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. The latter was a decision for which Tom Baker was always ready to express immense gratitude, as when Letts appeared on his episode of "This is Your Life" in the year 2000.
Letts remained fond of and connected with the series right up until his death. When producer Graham Williams broke his leg during production of season 16 in 1978 Letts helped to keep an eye on the series, and more officially he served as Executive Producer in 1980, overseeing the inexperienced John Nathan-Turner's first season in charge of the programme. For many years thereafter Letts also penned novels, novelisations and radio serials connected to the programme. He also appeared on DVD commentaries and in various documentaries.
He also gained extensive credits outside of Doctor Who, most notably as producer of the BBC's "Classic Serial" strand during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In this role he produced many acclaimed and award-winning adaptations of classic novels, including "Great Expectations", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Jane Eyre". Later, he directed episodes for the soap opera "EastEnders".
Actress in action serials
Pamela Blake, 94, a B-movie actress known for her roles in such late 1940s action serials as "Chick Carter, Detective" and "Ghost of Zorro," died of natural causes Tuesday at a Las Vegas care facility, her family said.
Born in 1915 in Oakland, Blake came to Hollywood after winning a beauty contest at age 17. Originally known by her given name, Adele Pearce, she adopted the stage name Pamela Blake in 1942, the same year she signed with MGM, according to the All Movie Internet database.
From 1934 to 1954, Blake appeared in about 50 films, and had a minor breakthrough in the classic 1942 film noir "This Gun for Hire" with Alan Ladd. That same year, she also appeared in the popular "Maisie Gets Her Man" with Ann Sothern and Red Skelton, and the western "The Omaha Trail" with James Craig.
By the early 1950s, she was regularly appearing in TV westerns such as "The Cisco Kid" and "The Range Rider."
In 1953, she moved to Las Vegas and permanently retired to raise her two children with Mike Stokey, who created the TV game show "Pantomime Quiz." That marriage, and an earlier one to actor and stuntman Malcolm "Bud" McTaggart, ended in divorce.
She was the widow of John Canavan, an Air Force master sergeant she married in 1983. Her son, Michael Stokey II, has been a military advisor on such films as "The Thin Red Line" (1998) and "Tropic Thunder" (2008).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry Letts, producer of Doctor Who through one of its most fondly-remembered periods with Jon Pertwee as the Third Doctor from 1970 to 1974, has died at the age of eighty-four.
Previously an actor, Letts moved behind the camera in the 1960s, finding work as a director on several programmes for BBC television. He first worked on Doctor Who as director of the 1968 Patrick Troughton serial Enemy of the World, before accepting the job of producer during production Jon Pertwee's first season, in 1969. Working closely in association with script editor Terrance Dicks, Letts oversaw the creative direction and production of the programme for the following five seasons.
In addition to his producing role, Letts also directed several serials during his time in charge of the programme - Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters and Planet of the Spiders. In addition, he handled much of the direction for Inferno after Douglas Camfield was taken ill, and after leaving the series as producer he directed The Android Invasion for his successor, Philip Hinchcliffe. He also co-wrote The Daemons with Robert Sloman (under the pseudonym 'Guy Leopold') and worked closely with Sloman on the writer's other scripts for the programme.
Letts's legacy to the programme included the creation of the character Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen on the BBC to this day, and the decision to cast Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. The latter was a decision for which Tom Baker was always ready to express immense gratitude, as when Letts appeared on his episode of "This is Your Life" in the year 2000.
Letts remained fond of and connected with the series right up until his death. When producer Graham Williams broke his leg during production of season 16 in 1978 Letts helped to keep an eye on the series, and more officially he served as Executive Producer in 1980, overseeing the inexperienced John Nathan-Turner's first season in charge of the programme. For many years thereafter Letts also penned novels, novelisations and radio serials connected to the programme. He also appeared on DVD commentaries and in various documentaries.
He also gained extensive credits outside of Doctor Who, most notably as producer of the BBC's "Classic Serial" strand during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In this role he produced many acclaimed and award-winning adaptations of classic novels, including "Great Expectations", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Jane Eyre". Later, he directed episodes for the soap opera "EastEnders".
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