Gordon Hitchens dies at 85
Former Variety journo wrote for weekly in 1970s, '80s
By SHALINI DOREW

Former Variety journo Gordon Hitchens died Aug. 7 in Long Island of cancer. He was 85.
Under the name Hitch, he wrote reviews for weekly Variety in New York in the 1970s and '80s.

The son of thriller novelists Bert and Dolores Hitchens, Hitchens founded and edited Film Comment, the arts and cultural mag of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, from 1962-70. He later segued to Variety , where his work was called "pithy and fun" by then- Variety editor Elizabeth Guider, now editor at the Hollywood Reporter.

"His reviews were very thoughtful and funny," Guider said.

Hitchens also was the U.S. rep at festivals including Berlin, Caracas and New York. He was on the selection committee for New York and sat on the jury of the 1968 Berlin fest.

Besides his journalism, Hitchens was a documaker who directed 1962's "Sunday on the River."

Survivors include a son and a daughter, four grandchildren and a brother. Donations may be made to the ACLU in his name.

Wrestling Legend "General" Skandor Akbar Passes Away

8/20/2010 11:55 AM ET By Brandon Stroud

Brandon Stroud
Pro Wrestling Writer



Long-time wrestling manager Skandor Akbar, real name Jim Wehba, has reportedly died at age 75. The cause of death is unknown at this time. Akbar was still active in the wrestling business and was advertised for the "Wrecking Ball Wrestling" promotion's upcoming show on Sunday afternoon in Dallas, Texas.

Skandor Akbar, which translates as "Alexander the Great," led the villainous stable Devastation, Inc. in Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation during the promotion's heyday in the 1980s, as well as other regional territories, including the Global Wrestling Federation and World Class Championship Wrestling, where Devastation, Inc. would routinely square off against the babyface Von Erich brothers.

Earlier this month, Akbar appeared at the annual NWA Legends Fanfest in Charlotte, N.C. WWE's Jim Ross recently wrote about his interactions with Akbar on jrsbarbq.com:

"General Scandor Akbar is now 75 and we had a great visit and talked road stories, he was one of my very first traveling partners along with Dan Hodge, and of course the OU-Texas football rivalry. Ak is a Longhorn devotee and that was the topic we engaged in over hundreds of miles of highway back in the '70s. Ak could squeeze blood out of a quarter and was so instrumental in helping me understand that no one makes too little money to not save some of it. The 'squatty fullback of the Vernon, Texas Lions will always be one of my favorite guys. Many don't know how instrumental Ak was in helping steer Steve Austin in the right direction early in Stone Cold's career in Dallas."

Boyd Magers' "Western Clippings" and Wikipedia are reporting that actress Gloria Winters died.

"Gloria Winters, 77, Penny on "Sky King", died August 14 in L.A. after suffering in recent years from Alzheimers."

Jack Horkheimer, Public Television's ``Star Gazer,'' died Friday afternoon of a respiratory ailment, according to a spokesman for the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium.

Born June 11, 1938, he was 72.

In an e-mail to staff, museum officials said they were ``very saddened to have just learned that our resident Star Gazer, Jack Horkheimer, passed away today after being ill for quite some time.

``Jack was executive director of [the] Planetarium for over 35 years and was an internationally recognized pioneer in popularizing naked-eye astronomy. He was also a recognized media celebrity, often being the foremost commentator on all astronomy related happenings nationwide.

Horkheimer was best known as the creator, writer and host of public television's ``Star Gazer,'' the 30-year weekly TV series on naked eye astronomy. Seen on PBS stations nationwide, ``Star Gazer'' reached millions of people, helping create a love of the stars for several generations of enthusiasts.''

He belonged to bands Stony Poneys and Bryndle
By CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

Well-traveled Los Angeles songwriter, guitarist and producer Kenny Edwards died Aug. 18 in Southern California, according to the musician's website. He was 64 and had been battling prostate cancer and a blood disorder.
Edwards founded a folk group in 1965 with Arizona transplants Bob Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt that would morph into the early L.A. country-rock band the Stone Poneys. The group cut a pair of Capitol Records albums, the second of which included the hit "Different Drum." The band dissolved in 1967, but Edwards and Ronstadt recorded together again in the '70s.

In 1968 Edwards joined forces with singer-songwriters Wendy Waldman, Karla Bonoff and Andrew Gold in the folk-rock unit Bryndle; the group cut one unreleased album for A&M, but its members all went on to become prominent solo performers on the Southern California soft-rock scene. Edwards produced Bonoff's three '70s solo albums for Columbia. Bryndle regrouped to tour and record in the early '90s.

Edwards was active as a producer and session man from the '80s on, appearing on albums by Don Henley, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Nicks and contributing to TV shows like "Miami Vice" and "Crime Story." He also issued two solo albums, "Kenny Edwards" (2002) and "Resurrection Road" (2009).

"Nightmare" Ted Allen dead at 54 By GREG OLIVER - Producer, SLAM! Wrestling

"Nightmare" Ted Allen "Nightmare" Ted Allen Photo Gallery

Chances are that even if you never saw Ted Allen wrestle, you were affected by him in some way. Allen, who died today at the age of 54, worked under a mask for most of his career -- The Nightmare was his best-known role -- but he also built wrestling rings and trained the likes of Arn Anderson, Big Bossman, Scotty Riggs, and Ranger Ross to be professional wrestlers.

Allen was young and curious enough to be a part of the social media scene, and already his Facebook and MySpace pages are overflowing with messages and memories. "You taught me so much" is a frequent refrain.

Born November 17, 1955 in Cartersville, Georgia, Allen went to Cass High School, where he played basketball, baseball, ran cross country, edited the school newspaper, and wrestled; he also did play-by-play for radio broadcasts of sports at the school.

When he was nine years old, he discovered pro wrestling. When he was 14, he talked his way into doing the ring announcing at the weekly matches at the Sports Palace in Cartersville.

In a February 1999 interview with Scott Teal's Whatever Happened To ... newsletter, Allen said he was never smartened up. "Oh, they pretty well kayfabed me," he said. "I would go back in the dressing room to get their weight and stuff, but they didn't have too much to say to me. I was just a kid."

Teal and Allen had been corresponding, exchanging match results, since 1974. "Ted was a great friend who I never heard say a bad thing about anyone. He loved the business," said Teal.

After a brief stint at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, Allen left to get married, and soon made his wrestling debut as well, in the summer of 1975, wrestling as Ted Atlas. By 1977, he'd started wrestling for the larger outfit in Nashville, run by Nick Gulas. An old connection from his ring announcing days, referee Charlie Smith, recognized him and hooked him up with the Atlanta outfit, where he was Ted Allen. Through his early years, Allen continued to have "real" employment, working for a finance company or selling insurance.

Ted Allen. Photo by Scott Teal.

"I quit a bunch of regular jobs for wrestling," he told Teal. "If there was a booking that I really wanted to go to, I'd go whether they let me go or not ... I quit several pretty fair jobs when they wouldn't go along with letting me off."

Come 1980, Allen started wrestling full-time, and the following year, he donned a mask for the first -- but certainly not the last -- time, as a Nightmare with Danny Davis. That pairing lasted three months, and Allen returned home to deal with some family issues; Davis would bring in Ken Wayne for a longer run as the Nightmares.

In Calgary, Allen worked as MX1 Missile. "At the time, that was the big thing in the news," explained Allen, who was in Stampede Wrestling for about three months.

For the 210-pound Allen, wearing a mask made a huge difference.

"I liked it, because along with putting the hood on was getting my hand in the air," he said. "I knew all the basics and could work pretty good, but there's just a lot of added confidence when they're putting you over. Plus, when you're working for a big crowd, compared to what I was used to. Oh, it just made a world of difference."

Some of his other masked personas came and went pretty quickly. Allen was Mr. Wrestling, (one of many over the years!), the Black Tiger for one show, and The Power Ranger in Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling for a dozen or so shows.

Nightmare Ted Allen at the 2008 NWA Legends Fan Fest in Charlotte. Photo by Steven Johnson.

But mostly, once wrestling changed to a national outfit, he worked as Nightmare Ted Allen, under a mask, but not concealing his identity either.

The training of other wrestlers came out of nowhere for Allen. Marty Lunde -- the future Arn Anderson -- and two others, Tony Zane and Heartbreaker David Jones, approached him in his car after a show in Rome, Georgia.

"I had never trained anyone and I told them that. I didn't know what to charge them, either, but I told them [what] they needed to buy," Allen said. He worked with them about 10 times before heading to Memphis for some bookings. They dutifully kept up their training in his absence and, upon his return, were basically ready for beginner bouts.

Others he would train over the years included Ray Traylor (Big Bossman, Big Bubba Rogers, etc.), Scotty Riggs, Bull Buchanan (who was also Recon from the Truth Commission), referee Pee Wee Anderson, and Ranger Ross (Robert Lee Ross, Jr.).

Over the years, Allen promoted wrestling shows as well, running Peach State Wrestling weekly from 1989 to 1991 in Rome. He also ran a furniture moving business.

All the experience in various businesses helped Allen with his ring building efforts.

Fan Peggy Lathan and Ted Allen at the 2010 NWA Legends Fan Fest. Photo courtesy Peggy Lathan.

He described his operation to Teal: "I build to whatever specifications a person wants ... different heights off the ground, or whatever. I sell mats and ring aprons. I keep my ears and eyes open. Anybody around this area that has anything for sale usually calls me. They know I'm always turning 'em over. I can also broker a deal between two parties for a ring and then deliver it."

Besides conceding that wrestling played a part in his divorce, Allen was always positive about his experiences in the squared circle. He was a regular at the Gulf Coast reunions, a member of the Cauliflower Alley Club, and recently attended the NWA Legends Fan Fest in Charlotte, NC.

"I was really fortunate to break in when I did. I got to work with so many guys that were just great," Allen told Teal.

Allen was the father of two, and grandfather of three.

The cause of death is unknown at this time, and funeral arrangements are pending.

Posted: Thurs., Aug. 19, 2010, 4:23pm PM
The Call front man Michael Been dies
He was working as sound man for son's band at Pukkelpop fest
By CHRISTOPHER MORRIS

Michael Been, former front man for the Northern California rock band the Call, died after suffering a heart attack Aug. 19 at Pukkelpop Festival near Hasselt, Belgium. He was 60.
Singer-guitarist Been was working as the sound engineer for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, his son Robert's band. He collapsed backstage and was pronounced dead at a Hasselt hospital.

Sometimes compared to U2 thanks to their expansive sound, ambitious themes and literate writing, the Santa Cruz-bred Call was founded by Oklahoma native Been in 1980. The group released eight studio albums and a live set on such major labels as Mercury, Elektra and MCA. The quartet's highest charting album, "Let the Day Begin," was issued in 1989; the album's title cut was used by Sen. Al Gore as his presidential campaign song in 2000.

Been wrote the soundtrack for Paul Schrader's "Light Sleeper" (1992) and appeared in Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988) as the Apostle John.

Other News: Former WWE wrestler Lance Cade dies at age 29


Aug 13, 2010 - 11:00:36 AM

By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Former WWE wrestler Lance Cade (Lance McNaught) reportedly died today at age 29. The news was originally reported at PWInsider.com.

Details on the cause of death are not known at this time. Cade battled
prescription drug issues during his career, which reportedly factored into
his release from WWE in October 2008 while in the middle of a major program with Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels.

Cade was re-signed to a developmental contract late last year and briefly
worked at Florida Championship Wrestling.

Cade was then released again in April.

NEW YORK – Richie Hayward, co-founder of the Little Feat, an eclectic jamband that maintained a strong cult following throughout the decades, has died. He was 64.

The drummer had been suffering from liver cancer and died Thursday at a hospital near Vancouver, Canada, after complications of pneumonia, his publicist, Bridget Nolan, confirmed Friday.

"He was waiting for a liver transplant," said Nolan. Over the past year, benefits had been staged on Hayward's behalf; he had no health insurance.

In a letter to fans last August, Hayward wrote about his predicament, but sounded hopeful: "My intent is to come back to the band, as soon as I am physically able. Your love and support will mean a lot to me, more than I can say. I love and will miss you all, and I will see you again on the proud highway."

He last performed with the band on July 11.

Hayward helped form Little Feat in 1969, along with frontman Lowell George, Bill Payne and Roy Estrada. The jamband mixed a variety of genres including rock, country, jazz and blues, and were known for songs like "Willin." The group fell apart in 1979 after George died, but reformed in 1987, and had been a fixture on the touring circuit.

Besides his work with Little Feat, Hayward also performed with acts including Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Buddy Guy and Barbra Streisand.


(NY Times)- Abbey Lincoln, a singer whose dramatic vocal command and tersely poetic songs made her a singular figure in jazz, died on Saturday in Manhattan. She was 80 and lived on the Upper West Side.

Her death was announced by her brother David Wooldridge.

Ms. Lincoln’s career encompassed outspoken civil rights advocacy in the 1960s and fearless introspection in more recent years, and for a time in the 1960s she acted in films with Sidney Poitier.

Long recognized as one of jazz’s most arresting and uncompromising singers, Ms. Lincoln gained similar stature as a songwriter only over the last two decades. Her songs, rich in metaphor and philosophical reflection, provide the substance of “Abbey Sings Abbey,” an album released on Verve in 2007. As a body of work, the songs formed the basis of a three-concert retrospective presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002.

Her singing style was unique, a combined result of bold projection and expressive restraint. Because of her ability to inhabit the emotional dimensions of a song, she was often likened to Billie Holiday, her chief influence. But Ms. Lincoln had a deeper register and a darker tone, and her way with phrasing was more declarative.

“Her utter individuality and intensely passionate delivery can leave an audience breathless with the tension of real drama,” Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times in 1989. “A slight, curling phrase is laden with significance, and the tone of her voice can signify hidden welts of emotion.”

She had a profound influence on other jazz vocalists, not only as a singer and composer but also as a role model. “I learned a lot about taking a different path from Abbey,” the singer Cassandra Wilson said. “Investing your lyrics with what your life is about in the moment.”

Ms. Lincoln was born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago on Aug. 6, 1930, the 10th of 12 children, and raised in rural Michigan. In the early 1950s, she headed west in search of a singing career, spending two years as a nightclub attraction in Honolulu, where she met Ms. Holiday and Louis Armstrong. She then moved to Los Angeles, where she encountered the accomplished lyricist Bob Russell.

It was at the suggestion of Mr. Russell, who had become her manager, that she took the name Abbey Lincoln, a symbolic conjoining of Westminster Abbey and Abraham Lincoln. In 1956, she made her first album, “Affair ... a Story of a Girl in Love” (Liberty), and appeared in her first film, the Jayne Mansfield vehicle “The Girl Can’t Help It.” Her image in both cases was decidedly glamorous: On the album cover she was depicted in a décolleté gown, and in the movie she sported a dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe.

For her second album, “That’s Him,” released on the Riverside label in 1957, Ms. Lincoln kept the seductive pose but worked convincingly with a modern jazz ensemble that included the tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins and the drummer Max Roach. In short order she came under the influence of Mr. Roach, a bebop pioneer with an ardent interest in progressive causes. As she later recalled, she put the Monroe dress in an incinerator and followed his lead.

The most visible manifestation of their partnership was “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” issued on the Candid label in 1960, with Ms. Lincoln belting Oscar Brown Jr.’s lyrics. Now hailed as an early masterwork of the civil rights movement, the album radicalized Ms. Lincoln’s reputation. One movement had her moaning in sorrow, and then hollering and shrieking in anguish — a stark evocation of struggle. A year later, after Ms. Lincoln sang her own lyrics to a song called “Retribution,” her stance prompted one prominent reviewer to deride her in print as a “professional Negro.”

Ms. Lincoln, who married Mr. Roach in 1962, was for a while more active as an actress than a singer. She starred in the films “Nothing but a Man,” in 1964, and “For Love of Ivy,” opposite Sidney Poitier, in 1968. But with the exception of “Straight Ahead” (Candid), on which “Retribution” appeared, she released no albums in the 1960s. And after her divorce from Mr. Roach in 1970, she took an apartment above a garage in Los Angeles and withdrew from the spotlight for a time. She never remarried.

In addition to Mr. Wooldridge, Ms. Lincoln is survived by another brother, Kenneth, and a sister, Juanita Baker.During a visit to Africa in 1972, Ms. Lincoln received two honorary appellations from political officials: Moseka, in Zaire, and Aminata, in Guinea. (Moseka would occasionally serve as her surname.) She began to focus on writing songs.

Moving back to New York in the 1980s, Ms. Lincoln resumed performing, eventually attracting the attention of Jean-Philippe Allard, a producer and executive with PolyGram France. Ms. Lincoln’s first effort for what is now the Verve Music Group, “The World Is Falling Down” (1990), was a commercial and critical success.

Eight more albums followed in a similar vein, each produced by Mr. Allard and enlisting top-shelf jazz musicians like the tenor saxophonist Stan Getz and the vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. In addition to elegant originals like “Throw It Away” and “When I’m Called Home,” the albums featured Ms. Lincoln’s striking interpretations of material ranging from songbook standards to Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

For “Abbey Sings Abbey” Ms. Lincoln revisited her own songbook exclusively, performing in an acoustic roots-music setting that emphasized her affinities with singer-songwriters like Mr. Dylan. Overseen by Mr. Allard and the American producer-engineer Jay Newland, the album boiled each song to its essence and found Ms. Lincoln in weathered voice but superlative form.

When the album was released in May 2007, Ms. Lincoln was recovering from open-heart surgery. In her Upper West Side apartment, surrounded by her own paintings and drawings, she reflected on her life, often quoting from her own song lyrics. After she recited a long passage from “The World Is Falling Down,” one of her more prominent later songs, her eyes flashed with pride. “I don’t know why anybody would give that up,” she said. “I wouldn’t. Makes my life worthwhile.”

Emmy winner Bernie West dies at 92

Worked on 'All in the Family,' 'Jeffersons,' 'Three's Company'


By Mike Barnes
Aug 2, 2010, 02:39 PM ET
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ib4a9d37a2...


Bernie West, an Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer who worked on the
classic sitcoms "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and "Three's
Company," died July 29 at his Beverly Hills home of complications from
Alzheimer's disease. He was 92.


West won his Emmy in 1973 for writing, with Mickey Ross, the "Bunkers
and the Swingers" episode on "All in the Family." He received two other
noms as a producer for his work on "All in the Family" and "Three's
Company."


In 1971, he and Ross submitted a script for "All in the Family" to
Norman Lear and began what Bernie referred to as his first steady job.
They worked on the CBS sitcom from 1971-74, where they were writers,
script consultants, story editors and eventually, with Don Nicholl,
producers.


West and Ross created the character of Maude, played by Bea Arthur, on a
1972 episode of "All in the Family" that spun into another long-running
CBS series. And he and his partners worked on the 1974 pilot script of
NBC's "Chico and the Man."


Nicholl, Ross and West later wrote and produced for "The Jeffersons,"
which ran for 10 years, and then "Three's Company." Other series
included "The Dumplings" and two spinoffs of "Three's Company," "The
Ropers" and "Three's a Crowd."


Born Bernard Wessler in the Bronx, he and Martin Rosenblatt, later known
as Ross Martin of "Wild Wild West" fame, formed the stand-up team of
Ross & West. When Martin left to get married, West worked with his
friend, Isadore Rovinsky, who changed his name to Mickey Ross so that
the act could continue as Ross & West.


Ross & West worked nightclubs and vaudeville. "Everything we did may not
have been original," West once said, "but what we stole was good!"


A popular entertainer in the "Borscht Belt" of upstate New York, he
spent many summers performing in the Catskills, at Green Mansions in the
Adirondacks and at Tamiment in the Poconos. Among his early acting
credits were appearances on "The Garry Moore Show," "Dixon of Dock
Green," "The Arthur Murray Show," "The Jack Paar Show," "The Ed Sullivan
Show," "The Phil Silvers Show," "Car 54, Where Are You?" and Gomer Pyle,
U.S.M.C."


West also created the role of Dr. Kitchell, the song-writing dentist, on
Broadway in "Bells Are Ringing" starring Judy Holliday, which opened in
1956. He went on to recreate the role in the 1960 film, which also
starred Holliday as well as Dean Martin.


Other Broadway appearances included "All American" with Ray Bolger,
"Poor Bitos" with Donald Pleasance, "The Beauty Part" with Bert Lahr and
the 1969 revival of "The Front Page" with Helen Hayes.


West and his wife, Mimi, who died in 2004, supported numerous cultural,
political, arts and community service organizations, including the Los
Angeles Free Clinic (now known as the Saban Free Clinic) and Baruch
College, where they endowed the Bernie West Theater (referred to by
current students as "The Bernie").


NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Bobby Hebb, whose 1966 pop music classic "Sunny" described a sincere smile from a woman that lifted the singer's burdens, died Tuesday. He was 72.

Family members and a funeral home spokeswoman said Hebb died at Centennial Medical Center. Friends said he had lung cancer.

"Sunny" also was recorded by many other singers, including Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett and Jose Feliciano.

The song's key lines:

"Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain.

"Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain.

"The dark days are gone and the bright days are here.

"My sunny one shines so sincere.

"Sunny one so true, I love you."

Hebb had said in several interviews that he wrote "Sunny" in response to the slaying of his brother outside a Nashville nightclub and to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy a few days before.

On his 69th birthday in 2007, he recalled that he was living and performing in New York City at the time he wrote the song.

"I was intoxicated," Hebb told The Associated Press. "I came home and started playing the guitar. I looked up and saw what looked like a purple sky. I started writing because I'd never seen that before."

He included the song in his act at a bar called Brandy's and the audience liked it.

After a Japanese artist had a hit with the song in Asia and vibraphone player Dave Pike recorded it in the United States, Hebb recorded the vocal at Bell Sound in New York.

At the height of "Sunny" popularity, Hebb toured with the Beatles.

In a 2004 interview with The Tennessean newspaper, Hebb recalled that all four Beatles were nice.

"John (Lennon) and George (Harrison) were very quiet," he said. "But Ringo (Starr) and Paul (McCartney) were more active and easier to get to know. It was just something to be with those cats."

In 1971, Lou Rawls won a Grammy award for "A Natural Man," written by Hebb and Sandy Baron. Broadcast Music Incorporated said Tuesday there have been 7 million airings of "Sunny."

As recently as 2007, Hebb was still writing songs and had his own publishing company and record label, Hebb Cats.

Hebb was born to blind parents and raised in Nashville. He joined the Navy in 1955 where he played the trumpet in a jazz band.

In the 1950s Hebb also played and danced with Roy Acuff's country band, the Smoky Mountain Boys, and became one of the first black musicians to perform on the Grand Ole Opry show in Nashville.


Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records, has died at age 99.

His daughter, Margaret Miller Reuther, says her father died in New York City after a short illness.

Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett.

"Sing Along With Mitch" started as a series of records, then became a popular NBC show starting in early 1961. Miller's stiff-armed conducting style and signature goatee became famous.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7f3K83nbpMwytZUUASFHhiNajzgD9HBFOH80


Bond Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz Passes Away at Age 68
by Peter Hall Aug 2nd 2010 // 12:03PM

Filed under: Obits

Tom Mankiewicz, best recognized for his work as a screenwriter on several of James Bond's 1970s films, passed away on July 31st after losing a struggle with cancer. Mankiewicz, son of All About Eve screenwriter Joseph Mankiewicz, has his name on the screenplays for Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun, Ladyhawke, and Dragnet, but that was hardly the extent of his career. In addition to being a regular Bond writer, the L.A. Native was also a television writer and director who worked on such projects as Bob Hope Presents, Movin' With Nancy, Hart to Hart, and Tales From the Crypt.

Mankiewicz was also one of Hollywood's great script fixers, often lending his talents to movies without official receiving an official, on-screen credit. As a "creative consultant," he was responsible for various duties on The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Superman 1 & 2, Gremlins, War Games, and Batman.

The Bond-enthusiast fansite MI6.co.uk has a rather extensive and loving remembrance of Tom Mankiewicz, a definite read for fans. Our best wishes go out to his friends and family.