FAREWELL CLAUDIA CARDINALE......YET ANOTHER CINEMA ICON LEAVES US WITH MANY FOND MEMORIES.....

 R.I.P. Claudia Cardinale (1938-2025)

    It's impossible for us to remember Claudia Cardinale without hearing the heart rending theme that Ennio Morricone wrote for her character in Sergio Leone's immortal "Once Upon A Time In The West".

      Infinitely sweet and sadly reflective at the same time, "Jill's Theme" somehow serves to bring up a lifetime of memories about Cardinale's prolific and fabled career......films for Fellini, Visconti, Herzog and so many more (including American directors Richard Brooks and Blake Edwards.)

        Throughout the 1960's she was part of the mighty triumvirate of stunning women who dominated international films, which included Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. All of them not only beautiful beyond description, but gifted actresses who could command the screen in any genre they took on....from gut-punching drama to knockabout comedy. 

       To the many roles she played, Cardinale could bring both smoldering sexuality and an aching vulnerability all at the same time. (And it's fitting that very essence of her abilities was captured by Morricone in his legendary score for "Once Upon A Time...."

        Whether she broke your heart or made you laugh, you couldn't take your eyes off her.... with those luminous dark eyes and distinctive throaty voice, she held moviegoers enthralled, enchanted and entertained for decades.

        We've no idea what awaits us after death (and contrary to religious beliefs, neither does anyone else).....but if there is a heaven, we'd bet all our DVDs and Blu-Rays that she's settling in there just fine....

          

FAREWELL ROBERT REDFORD......THE SUNDANCE KID RIDES OFF INTO OUR MEMORIES

R.I.P. Robert Redford (1936-2025) 

       What can we possibly add to all the countless eulogies already posted? 

        When legendary movie stars pass away, they bequeath us with the indelible memories of their films and performances. 

         Redford did that of course, but so much more. As a director, he also left us with films as unforgettable as those he starred in. 

        And he did what so few of us aspire to......to somehow leave the world a better place in whatever way we can.

         In creating the Sundance Film Festival, Redford provided a showcase and a haven for brilliant, creative cinema talent from the U.S. and around the world. And new generations of actors, writers and directors were give the opportunity to make their unique voices heard......and their movies seen.

          Its especially sad that in these darkest of times, we've lost someone who stood as one the shining lights in public life.....to put it simply.....one of the good guys. 

         Everyone's weighed in on their favorite Redford films, so here's a few of ours, in no particular order.....             

3 Days of the Condor (1975) One of the best of the 70's 'government paranoia thrillers. Character actor Hank Garrett (the mailman-assassin) paid tribute to Redford and their spectacular fight scene, one of the best ever in movies.

The Hot Rock (1972)  Hilarious caper, with Redford's perfect deadpan reactions to all the craziness surrounding him.....and keeping a straight face as he delivers, "Afghanistan Bananastan"

Legal Eagles (1986) A rom-com thriller is not an easy genre to pull off, but somehow Redford made it look effortless and fun. We realize hardly anyone remembers or cares about this film but it came around during a great time in our own life and we loved it. And what hell....it's our blog, right?

Barefoot In The Park (1967)  In the role he originated on Broadway, Redford delivers hundreds of Neil Simon gag lines with precise timing and makes a perfect foil for his new manic pixie dream bride played by Jane Fonda... (a life long friend and frequent co-star.)

The Chase (1966) The very guiltiest of our Guilty Pleasures. Redford made an impact even when part of a once-in-a-lifetime ensemble cast - Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Duvall, Angie Dickinson, E.G. Marshall. As a hard luck escaped convict and former hometown rebel bad boy, he's the engine that propels the film's over-the-top melodramatics.  And his final scene (shown above) remains a shocking, stunning conclusion to a film already ahead of its time in nihilistic carnage.

R.I.P. to a cinema giant. 

MONDAY MADNESS WRAP-UP - THE JANUARY DEATH PARADE WON'T STOP, THE INVISIBLE GOLDEN GLOBES, THE SEARCH FOR TED CRUZ'S SPINE....

            Even without this non-stop onslaught of death, calamity, idiocy, miserable weather and random disaster, we still would hate January anway......because it's effin' January.......

             Nobody's kidding when they refer to this time of year as the dead of winter.......

             And speaking of deaths, the cruel perpetual obituaries never stop coming.....

eter Bogdanovich.(at age 82).....the film director, film critic and film historian lived an up' 'n downs life as wild as any star-crossed Hollywood actor. From the flavor-of-the-month director of "The Last Picture Show", "Paper Moon" and "What's Up Doc" to the reviled, shunned and ridiculed auteur of "Daisy Miller", "At Last Love" and "Nickelodeon"........with other films that fell somewhere in between those critical extremes, like "Saint Jack", "Mask" and "They All Laughed".  (not to mention his longtime friendship and creative collaboration with Orson Welles......a turbulent, fascinating life, for sure.

Sidney Poitier (at age 94)  The legendary groundbreaker, cinema's very first black superstar who for decades carried the enormous weight of that mantle all by himself, blazing the trail for all who followed. If if that wasn't enough, he was also the most kind hearted, gentlemanly soul who ever drew breath, still managing to become an icon in a field littered with rampant egotism and unbridled greed. A true giant has left us.

Bob Saget (at age 65)   A comedian equally beloved by his fellow comics and the wide variety of audiences he entertained........we don't know of any other comic actor whose separate personas could leave disparate demographics in helpless laughter.  For families who gathered together round the television, he was the rapid fire silly host of "America's Funniest Videos" and the gentle dad of "Full House'......for the stand-up comedy crowds, his blistering, insanely ribald X-rated routines could leave them in gasping, giggling hysteria. (It's as if he could adeptly function as both Lenny Bruce and Bob Hope all at the same time, depending on which crowd sat in front of him......in that regard, a true original....)

Dwayne Hickman (at age 87)    How well Baby Boomers know and love him from the 1959-1963 TV show "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis".....playing the eternal lovesick high schooler Dobie, forever perplexed by his futile Quixote-like pursuit of the unattainable golden girl Thalia Menninger (Tuesday Weld) Hickman's sweet nerd-ish middle class crew-cut boy and his show functioned as a finale item for a 1950's time capsule.....the last gasp of a more innocent age. (It's fitting the show ended a few months before JFK's assassination, ushering in more turbulent, violent, chaotic era.)  And fitting that as the 60's progressed, Tuesday Weld continued to play variations of Thalia Menninger, with other actors playing the unlucky fools doomed in their quest for her affections....

                That's more than enough death for the first two weeks of the year, so let's move on to even more madness.......

If a Golden Globe award fell in the forest where nobody could hear it, would it make a sound?  The disgraced notoriously corrupt and, banned-from-TV awards show happened out of sight, except for a flurry of tweets. Pardon us, but we feel all empty inside.......because, steaming pile of dung that it was, we loved us some Globes.   We miss watching drunken, shmoozing celebrities approach the podium and indulge in orgies of shameless, preening self-congratulation........with the exciting promise of more than one of them saying something stupid, embarrassing and buzzed about the next morning. The Globes were always a joke, a clown-car collection of Hollywood bottom-feeders who'd hand out any award to the highest bidder........but sadly, in this new era of wokeness, they could no longer be tolerated, which meant farewell to their annual shit-show on network television........sigh. Bye bye Globies.......each year, we'll guzzle a cocktail in remembrance.......

Ted Cruz grovels before Tucker Carlson  on national television......we're beginning to think that no political cartoon caricature of Cruz can do justice to the incredible, spineless spectacle of the real Cruz.......this simpering, whimpering toady, this worm-like minion who licks Trump's ass, even after Trump called his wife ugly and his father possibly responsible for JFK's assassination.  Maybe the Oxford English Dictionary should use Cruz's photo as an illustration of the word, 'invertebrate'......

               

'WEST SIDE STORY' (1961).....HAPPY 60TH TO A TIMELESS CLASSIC AND FAREWELL TO STEPHEN SONDHEIM.....

 West Side Story (1961)    We do realize we're about 6 weeks late wishing WSS a Happy 60th Anniversary.......but at least we didn't miss it by an entire year, which we've done with a few other films......

                  We wanted to sit down and re-watch this film even if we've lost count of how many times we've done so over the years.........to savor it once again before it's due to be subjected to an onslaught of comparisons to Steven Spielberg's much anticipated remake opening on December 10th......

                   How's it hold up after all these years?  Beautifully.

                    At 60 years old, "West Side Story", co-directed by Robert Wise and the Broadway show's creator and choreographer Jerome Robbins, remains now and always a brilliant display of music, dance and cinema.  A perfect storm of creative talents coming together to produce timeless art.

                    After all these years, we didn't expect to find anything new to discuss about the film, other than our great love for it.  Yet watching it this week, with a more cinema-attuned (and elderly) eye, we still found elements we never appreciated fully in all the viewings during our younger days.

                     The expertise of the camerawork and editing of the dance sequences struck us first as if watching them for the first time. In shot after shot, Wise and Robbins position the camera from either above the dancers or beneath them, adding more dramatic power to the imagery.

                      Of all the gifted, athletic dancer-actors on view, we especially stood in awe of George Chakiris, whose ultra precise, contained fury dared you to take your eyes off him. We'd like to think his well deserved Academy Award for best supporting actor was earned as much by his sheer spring-wired physicality as his acting.....a unique achievement.

                        And we smiled in agreement with Russ Tamblyn's own assessment of his performance in the film......that he deployed his unique talent for acrobatics to cover the fact that he actually doesn't do all that much dancing. 

                      Another aspect that brought us all new appreciation......the expansive, eye-grabbing sets created by the film's production designer, Boris Levin. Once "West Side Story" finishes it spectacular opening sequence in broad daylight New York streets, the rest of the film exists completely on Levin's meticulously visualized display of the story's gritty universe......back alleys, rooftops, fire escapes, a world of poverty stricken streets ringed with chain link fences trapping the volatile gang members.  

                      Everything that went into the film still dazzles today as it did in 1961.....Leonard Bernstein's breathtaking score, the virtually atomic energy of the dancers, the aching vulnerability of Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood as the star-crossed lovers......

                      .....and of course, the perfectly constructed lyrics of the late Stephen Sondheim.

                   As the ultimate theater composer-lyricist, Sondheim left us with a lifetime of superlative artistic genius........which is  why it's little wonder that no one who writes, directs, acts or composes can imagine a world without him. He took drama, music and theater to heights that no one.could have imagined.  We lost a true giant.

                    To paraphrase a line we heard in a film once.......you can wait around and hope, but you'll never see the the likes of him again.

                      For "West Side Story" and Stephen Sondheim, forever and always 5 stars (*****). 

FAREWELL TO 'THE SABOTEUR'....R.I.P. NORMAN LLOYD

Norman Lloyd (1914-2021)

 His place in cinematic history lives forever in every movie buff's memory.......

             As Frank Fry, the weasel-like Nazi agent who torches an American arms factory and blows up an American ship in New York harbor........smirking in satisfaction until he's cornered - on the torch of the Statue Of Liberty.

               From that height, in Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur", Frank Fry, played by young actor Norman Lloyd, plunges to his death.....his wailing scream and agonized face caught in a startling special effects shot. 

               Fry died, but Norman Lloyd lived on until passing a few days ago.....at age 106. We should all be so blessed as to lead a live so long and so creatively brilliant.

                You could say that after his spectacular demise in "Saboteur", Lloyd had nowhere to go but up....and that he did. 

               He spent a long rich lifetime, through two centuries as a prolific and constantly working producer, director and actor. in films, "In Her Shoes",  "Spellbound") TV series ("St. Elsewhere") and numerous stage productions. 

                 During his long association with Hitchcock, Lloyd served as the producer of  the director's two long running TV series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour"

                 Rest In Piece to a true Renaissance man of all the performing arts. An amazingly artistic life, so well lived.

FAREWELL SIR SEAN CONNERY........THE ONE AND ONLY, ULTIMATE ORIGINAL 007

        

       And so time has accomplished what no villainous mastermind could do to James Bond.....

                 ........taken him from us.

                 Sean Connery, who took the portrayal of an iconic fictional character to previously unheard of heights, made the role his own and captivated the entire world.

                 After he left Bond behind, he made us realize he was just getting started.

                 What followed was an amazing lifetime of additional classic roles in unforgettable films. 

                 We won't duplicate the hundreds of obituaries already posted that list his roles and his films.

                 You know them well. We all know them well.

                 Nothing more to say except to mourn a terrible loss of  a gifted actor who lived a life without compromise and left us with an immortal body of work.

                  Rest in peace and power, Sir Sean Connery.

                  A true Knight Of The Realm of modern cinema.

FAREWELL MRS. PEEL AND MRS. JAMES BOND.....R.I.P. DAME DIANA RIGG

 Dame Diana Rigg - 1938-2020     

                 To paraphrase the opening song in "South Pacific".....there was nothing like a Dame.

                 She was Mrs. Peel, the karate-chopping, judo-hurling, jumpsuited goddess of our high school dreams in "The Avengers"

                  She was the Contessa Tracy di Vincenzo in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service, so alluring and extraordinary, she became the one and only woman who make James Bond embrace monogamy and marry her.

                   Essentially she was the first empowered woman superhero of the mid 20th century........stunningly beautiful and supremely gifted as an actress.

                    So many memorable roles followed.....on stage, in films and TV.......a lifetime of a legendary career in everything from "The Great Muppet Caper" to "Game Of Thrones"

                      A unique talent who in her youth re-defined what it meant to be "the girl" in action-adventure projects......her fierce intelligence served to make her a thousand times more desirable than any mere babe-of-the-week. 

                  And as her career progressed, she quickly established herself as pure royalty in the field of acting.......(and eventually awarded the title that went with it)

                   Rest in piece, Dame Diana.......from a lifelong admirer.....and big, big fanboy.

FAREWELL TO THE MAESTRO......RIP ENNIO MORRICONE

Ennio Morricone (1929-2020)

               Where do we even begin?

               Over 400 film scores........some for world famous directors and their films.......some for the most obscure, weird little movies that almost nobody ever heard of.......(sometimes deservedly, sometimes not)

               But one thing they all had in common.........distinctive music that flowed out of a genius talent......sometimes startling, stunning and disturbing to the ear..........sometimes impossibly lush and romantic......sometimes stirring to the soul.........sometimes nightmarish......

                The Maestro Of Movie Music put his indelible, unforgettable stamp on every one of them.....and took film scores to new heights of ear-catching creativity and symphonic splendor......

                Everyone has their own personal favorites.........(even casual moviegoers who pay no attention to such things can instantly recognize the "......wah....WAH....wah" from "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly".....

                 We could talk forever about our own favorite Morricone scores, devote an entire separate blog to them.......for now, we mention a few of our special faves......

                 "Grand Slam"   A playful theme for a slick Euro-Crime big heist film......only Morricone would think of combining chanting schoolgirls with aggressive, wailing brass.......

                  "Once Upon A Time In The West"  Arguably, Morricone's ultimate masterpiece, a score written for the film and its characters before Sergio Leone rolled the cameras.....with multiple  legendary themes that define each of the story's  four major players.  And some of the saddest, sweetest music ever written for a film.

                     "The Red Tent"  Morricone's operatic emotionalism really rescues this bloated, heavy-handed historical adventure, a misbegotten Italian-Russian co-production........his theme's so beautiful and uplifting, you can only wish it was put to use in a better movie........

                    "Navajo Joe"  Typical way-over-the-top Morricone spaghetti western craziness (the one that featured Burt Reynolds in a wig straight from the Halloween Shop. We love, love love those insane screaming voices that kick it off........no wonder director Alexander Payne used it to underscore Reese Witherspoon's temper tantrums in "Election"

                      "The Ecstasy Of Gold"   No one but Morricone could bring their music to such a delirious crescendo as this.......the perfect riotous accompaniment as Clint Eastwoods 'Good', Lee Van Cleef's 'Bad' and Eli Wallach's 'Ugly' close in on the treasure they've lusted after. 

                        There's so many, many more that we could spend days doing this.........a tribute to one of the most vital cinema artists ever......as prolific as he was gifted.

                         Feel free to share with us any Morricone scores that sit on  your own hit parade.....love to hear about it!

FAREWELL PUSSY GALORE.......RIP HONOR BLACKMAN

                      Sean Connery:  "Who are you?"
                      Honor Blackman:  "My name is Pussy Galore"
                      Sean Connery:     "I must be dreaming"

........remembering many years ago.....a teenage BQ sitting in a packed showing of "Goldfinger" in December of '64.......and hearing the audience roar with laughter at Connery's line........

                    RIP actress Honor Blackman, who passed at 94 of natural causes....(as opposed to you-know-what)......forever beloved as the first judo-chopping leather-clad heroine of TV's "The Avengers", who then went on to her immortal role as the toughest, sexiest and most outrageously named Bond Girl.......(and the year before, fans fondly remember her as a gorgeous, all-knowing goddess Hera of "Jason And The Argonauts"........

                       A lifetime of great performances........and James Bond found out quickly enough that both he and the audience were dreaming wide awake.....

FAREWELL SPARTACUS - R.I.P. KIRK DOUGLAS (1916-2020)

               We've all thrilled to the scene where Spartacus's followers, in an act of selfless courage, brotherhood and defiance of authority, stood up and declared "I am Spartacus!"

                As stirring as that gesture may be........we knew there was only one Spartacus.

                He didn't live forever, as much as we wanted him too........but he came damn close at 103 years on this earth.

                And left us a lifetime of monumental performances, forever  preserved on film.

                 Dedicated to his art, as intensely driven and engaged by life as any human being could be, Kirk Douglas was one of the few remaining icons of what's come to be known as cinema's Golden Age.......

                  .......an era well-named, because we doubt anyone will ever experience anything like it again......the actors, the filmmakers.......and the films.

                   For anyone who might wonder who it is and what it is we lost with the passing of Kirk Douglas.......watch "Champion", "Lust For Life", "Ace In The Hole", "Detective Story", "The Vikings", "The Devil's Disciple", "Lonely Are The Brave", "Gunfight At The O.K.Corral", "Paths Of Glory"........

                   ......and of course, the film where we knew without question......
.......that Kirk Douglas was Spartacus.

FAREWELL, LOLITA.....RIP SUE LYON

Sue Lyon (1946-2019)     Not much we can add here to the obituaries of Sue Lyon, forever known for playing the title role in Stanley Kubrick's version of "Lolita".......

                In casting her, Kubrick went as young as he dared to in 1962....(she was 14)......not that it mattered, since Kubrick's ice-cold, dispassionate, satiric take on 'Lolita' barely flirted with  any real censorship problems.........(not unless the sight of James Mason painting Lyon's toenails left you outraged and aghast.....)

               Her 'Lolita' fame landed her another high profile project, John Huston's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' "Night Of The Iguana".....where, as a slightly older lust object, she switched from James Mason's fussy Humbert Humbert to Richard Burton's disgraced ex-clergyman.

               From then on,  she indifferently wandered into starlet roles of the late 60's, then on to episodic TV.....and then,like so man young actresses of that era, dropped off the radar.......(she was okay in all this various stuff......and truly, that's about as much as BQ can remember about her.....)

                But her signature role forever gives her a place in cinema history.....Kubrick no doubt extracted the performance he wanted......the not-too-bright nymphet who's mostly oblivious to her sexuality and the effect it has the men who salivate and fantasize over her........and Lyon more than delivered, holding her own while up against Mason, Shelly Winters and the formidably funny Peter Sellers......

                 We won't waste time on her fairly riotous personal life (a parade of husbands, including a convicted murderer)......if anyone wrote a biography of her, that's the part we would immediately skip over....

                So rest in peace Ms. Lyon........gone too soon at 73.......(when any of you reach a certain age, you'll understand the use of that 'gone too soon' phrase every time you read an obit....)

             

               

             

BOND GIRLS ARE FOREVER......R.I.P. CLAUDINE AUGER......

Claudine Auger (1941-2019)   

                     We borrowed our post's title from that coffee-table book of a few years back.......and maybe that title resonates even more today.......

                       All sorts of higher profile actresses vied for the coveted role of Domino in hotly anticipated Bond movie "Thunderball"......Raquel Welch, Brigitte Bardot, even Flavor-Of-The-Month Julie Christie........

                       But in what was then the standard practice for producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, they plucked a completely unknown European ultra-babe for the role......

                        Claudine Auger did everything expected of a 60's Bond girl.......she looked stunning, a perfect fantasy match for the world's most beloved fantasy hero.......

                         Age never intruded in the world of James Bond the way it cruelly does in real life......so in the eyes of moviegoers everywhere, Bond girls truly are forever.

                        RIP 'Domino'......and Claudine Auger.......one of the first Bond girls to actually save
007's life when the villain gets the drop on him.......

AT DAY'S END..............REMEMBERING DORIS DAY

Doris Day (1922-2019)     It seems fitting that one of BQ's most visited posts is the one about 1963's "Move Over, Darling"..........in which Marilyn Monroe's star-crossed, aborted vehicle "Something's Gotta Give" was re-invented as a frothy farce for Doris Day.........

                ..........which found America's Sex Goddess replaced by America's  Girl Next Door........

               The deep irony here:  Day, a national symbol of cheerful virginity and eternal optimism led a personal life every bit as deeply troubled, turbulent and tragic as Monroe's.......

                 Day's married life consisted of a woeful rogue's gallery of horrific husbands......men who physically abused her, left her and in the case of husband-producer Martin Melcher, looted the fortune she earned as the country's most popular movie star, leaving her widowed and broke.......

                  Add to that the cancer death of her only son and you have a life far different than the one unfolding in her many musicals and comedies.......

                   Though routinely mocked and derided by cynics, you'll notice nobody makes fun of Day's rare but stunning forays into dramatic roles.......the abused singer tormented by James Cagney in "Love Me Or Leave Me", the distraught mother of a kidnapped child in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much".........or even her work in the admittedly cheesy thriller "Midnight Lace" where Day threw herself into the role of a woman terrified into hysteria......

                     Like Frank Sinatra, she did it all and she did it her way.........making virtually every film role iconic and using her formidable vocal talent to become America's Official Songstress......even today, children of multiple generations can hum "Que Sera, Sera"........

                     If you grew up with her films and recordings, like the BQ, then you understand how her very name evoked  not only her persona but how we saw ourselves as a country........bright, happy and basked in sunshine........

                     I think it's safe to say that in this cyber-era of instant fame, instant notoriety and the instant disposable nature of pop culture in general, you'll never see the likes of her again......

                     And that's something to forever mourn.

                     Neither the Motion Picture Academy nor any other cinema organization ever got around to bestowing a Lifetime Achievement award to Day.........which says more about them then her.

                     Rest In Peace, Doris Day.

BYE BYE TO SUSIE HUNSEKER AND RUBY-DOOBEE......RIP SUSAN HARRISON

                      An RIP for Susan Harrison, an actress who enjoyed a all too brief but memorable career as a fresh young starlet......

                      And what a movie to start a career with........the legendary, iconic "Sweet Smell Of Success"......in which Susan played the impossibly, gentle adorable Susie Hunseker, innocent sister of the powerful, ruthless gossip columnist J.J. Hunseker (Burt Lancaster).  J.J. exerts the same iron-willed, malignant influence over Susie as he does over millions of readers and TV viewers.

                      You ache and fear for Harrison's Susie, as her sweet, budding romance with a jazz guitarist (Martin Milner) is undermined and undone by her brother, with the help of his desperate toady, the ever-hustling, conniving press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis.)

                       Harrison moved on to some striking guest starring roles in television......she's the ballerina in that classic Twilight Zone episode, "Five Characters In Search Of An Exit".....(for anyone who hasn't seen it, we dare not reveal the legendary twist.....)

                        Talk about a change of pace, for her last feature film appearance, 1960's "Key Witness", Harrison fairly ignited the screen as Ruby-Doobee, the vicious, official Babe-In-Residence of Dennis Hopper's rampaging gang of teen thugs.   You gotta love Ruby......to stop Jeffrey Hunter from testifying against Hopper, Harrison beats up on Hunter's wife while she's in the courthouse.....(see our 2//21/19 post on "Key Witness")

                       RIP to a remarkable, charismatic talent we only wish we'd seen more of.......

RIP SHANE RIMMER..........BQ'S FAVE CONTROL ROOM TECHNICIAN......

              Sorry to say farewell to one of our favorite, most familiar journeyman character actors, Shane Rimmer…….

              If you're a lifelong fan of sci-fi/fantasy films and TV, then you'd instantly shout out "Oh, yes, THAT guy!"  He managed to pop up in a slew of legendary, iconic movies......

             A Canadian, he joined the select group of actors always called upon to play Americans in British films and TV shows......

              You might remember him best from his most high profile role, the no-nonsense U.S. nuclear submarine commander who helped Roger Moore save the world in "The Spy Who Loved Me"...…

                And you'd easily spot him as one of Slim Pickens' B-52 bomber crew in "Dr. Strangelove" (along side the young James Earl Jones)…..as well control room technicians in "You Only Live Twice", "Diamonds Are Forever", "Star Wars-A New Hope", and the Christopher Reeve Superman films.....he also lent his authoritative, yet somehow comforting voice to one of "Thunderbirds" puppet characters...

                  Shane Rimmer enjoyed an incredibly fruitful career for a humble actor always spoken of as one of the nicest guys in showbiz...….

                  A warm, welcome presence every time we saw him on screen, he'll be missed. RIP Shane Rimmer…….we wouldn't have wanted anyone else manning those early-warning radar screens when supervillains attacked...….