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Post by TTX on Jul 6, 2017 9:34:48 GMT -5
IB was a fan. RIP.
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Post by jimsteel on Jul 6, 2017 18:36:12 GMT -5
 The pair, who met when the Marvel boss was supposed to take her friend on a date, were married for 69 years. Joan Lee, the wife of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, died Thursday in Los Angeles. She was 93. "I can confirm the sad news that Joan Lee passed away this morning quietly and surrounded by her family," a spokesperson for Stan Lee and his family said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "The family ask that you please give them time to grieve and respect their privacy during this difficult time." Joan Lee suffered a stroke earlier in the week and was hospitalized, according to sources. The former British hat model and Lee were married on Dec. 5, 1947, and were by all accounts hopelessly devoted to each other. They had two children: J.C. (Joan Celia), who was born in 1950, and Jan, who died three days after her birth in 1953. Last year, Lee recounted how he met his wife in a story for THR that celebrated his 75th anniversary in comics. After a childhood sweetheart wed another woman, Joan Clayton impulsively married an American soldier during World War II and moved to New York, where she was extremely unhappy. Meanwhile, a cousin of Lee's wanted to set up the struggling writer with a hat model. Lee tells what happened next: "When I was young, there was one girl I drew; one body and face and hair. It was my idea of what a girl should be. The perfect woman. And when I got out of the Army, somebody, a cousin of mine, knew a model, a hat model at a place called Laden Hats. He said, 'Stan, there's this really pretty girl named Betty. I think you’d like her. She might like you. Why don’t you go over and ask her to lunch.' Blah, blah, blah. "So I went up to this place. Betty didn’t answer the door. But Joan answered, and she was the head model. I took one look at her — and she was the girl I had been drawing all my life. And then I heard the English accent. And I’m a nut for English accents! She said, 'May I help you?' And I took a look at her, and I think I said something crazy like, 'I love you.' I don’t remember exactly. But anyway, I took her to lunch. I never met Betty, the other girl. I think I proposed to [Joan] at lunch.” In those days, the quickest way to get divorced was to move to Nevada and stay for six weeks to establish residency. Soon after Joan arrived in Reno, Stan received a letter from her addressed to "Jack," and that worried him. “Now I’m not the smartest guy in world,” recalled Lee. “I know my name isn’t 'Jack.' And so why did she write 'Dear Jack?' Maybe I better go to Reno and see what’s going on. I got there and she was waiting for me. And there’s three guys with her. They all look like John Wayne. Big Western guys! Rugged! And I get off the plane fresh from New York with my little pork pie hat and a little scarf and my gloves. And she’s with me. I thought, 'I don’t have a chance.' Luckily, I had a chance.” |
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Post by joebreakdown on Jul 7, 2017 6:51:58 GMT -5
Was Grotbags known outside of the UK?!
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Post by cruefan68 on Jul 7, 2017 8:37:33 GMT -5
Sad to hear about the death of Joan Lee. Stan Lee, besides being a legend with Marvel Comics, is a friend of FG as well so condolences to him on his loss. I loved the story of how they met that was pretty wild.
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Post by cruefan68 on Jul 7, 2017 8:39:27 GMT -5
Was Grotbags known outside of the UK?! I didn't know anything about Grotbags here in the U.S. but I can't answer for everyone of course. Anyway it is sad news to hear and may she rest in peace. |
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Post by TTX on Jul 10, 2017 2:36:52 GMT -5
IB is British (technically) hence why she knew Grotbags.
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Post by jimsteel on Jul 10, 2017 3:23:34 GMT -5
 Nelsan Ellis Dies; True Blood Star Was Only 39 Nobody is going to contradict this statement: Lafayette Reynolds was one of the most memorable and lovable characters on HBO's True Blood. Nelsan Ellis, who brought him to life in remarkable fashion, has passed away at the age of 39, according to a brief report on The Hollywood Reporter. As testament to the beauty of Ellis' craft and charisma as an actor, the character of Lafayette died in the books written by Charlaine Harris, but lived on during the HBO series merely because of what he did with the material. Fans around the world will never forget the magic he created with Lafayette. THR received a statement from Ellis' manager, Emily Gerson Saines: "Nelsan has passed away after complications with heart failure," Saines said. "He was a great talent, and his words and presence will be forever missed." Most recently, Ellis had a recurring role as Shinwell Johnson on Elementary. Shinwell was a Sherlock Holmes literary canon character described as colorful and somewhat dubious. In other words, exactly in Ellis' wheelhouse. Ellis has completed a movie titled True to the Game in which he starred with Vivica A. Fox with an expected release date of September 8, 2017. |
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Post by TTX on Jul 13, 2017 20:21:24 GMT -5
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Post by jimsteel on Jul 14, 2017 0:24:03 GMT -5
 Actor Tiger Joe Robinson died at age 90 on July 3. Robinson passed away from a short illness at his home in Brighton, England, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actor infamously played a diamond smuggler who fought Sean Connery's James Bond in a glass elevator in the 1971 "Diamonds Are Forever." He also taught actress Honor Blackman martial arts basics for her role as Pussy Galore in the 1964 Bond film "Goldfinger." The judo, karate and wrestling champion performed various action roles in films such as the 1955 "A Kid for Two Farthings," for which he was nominated for a Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival. Other movies Robinson appeared in include "The Flesh Is Weak," "Sea Fury," "The Bulldog Breed," "Barabbas" and Tony Richardson's "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner." In real life, Robinson was also a champion wrestler who successfully competed against Olympic gold medalist Axel Cadier of Sweden in 1952, winning the European heavyweight wrestling title. Robinson is the second "James Bond" star to die in 2017. Sir Roger Moore, who played Bond in seven films from the early 1970s to 1985, died on May 23 in Switzerland at 89 years old after battling "a short but brave battle with cancer," reports the BBC. "With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today," wrote his family on Twitter. "We are all devastated." Loved ones followed Moore's wishes and held the star's funeral in Monaco. "The love with which he was surrounded in his final days was so great it cannot be quantified in words alone," read a statement from his family. "Our thoughts must now turn to supporting Kristina [Tholstrup, his wife] at this difficult time." In addition to acting, Moore was also a UNICEF goodwill ambassador -- a role he valued greatly. |
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Post by jimsteel on Jul 16, 2017 18:41:45 GMT -5
 LLegendary filmmaker George A. Romero, father of the modern movie zombie and creator of the groundbreaking “Night of the Living Dead” franchise, has died at 77. Romero died Sunday in his sleep after a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” according to a statement to The Times provided by his longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. Romero died while listening to the score of one his favorite films, 1952’s “The Quiet Man,” with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, at his side, the family said. Romero jump-started the zombie genre as the co-writer (with John A. Russo) and director of the 1968 movie “Night of the Living Dead,” which went to show future generations of filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter that generating big scares didn’t require big budgets. “Living Dead” spawned an entire school of zombie knockoffs, and Romero’s sequels included 1978’s “Dawn of the Dead,” 1985’s “Day of the Dead,” 2005’s “Land of the Dead,” 2007’s “Diary of the Dead” and 2009’s “George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead.” The original film, since colorized, has become a Halloween TV staple. Among other notable aspects of the cult classic was the casting of a black actor, Duane Jones, in the lead role, marking a milestone in the horror genre. Romero wrote or directed projects outside the “Living Dead” franchise too, including 1973’s “The Crazies,” 1981’s “Knightriders” and episodes of the 1970s TV documentary “The Winners.” His last credit as a writer was for his characters’ appearance in 2017’s “Day of the Dead” from director Hèctor Hernández Vicens. George Andrew Romero was born in the Bronx in New York City on Feb. 4, 1940. He attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and graduated in 1960 from the university’s College of Fine Arts. In recent years, as the zombie genre had a resurgence, Romero wasn’t always a fan. He told a British newspaper in 2013 that he’d been asked to do some episodes of “The Walking Dead,” but had no interest. “Basically it’s just a soap opera with a zombie occasionally,” he told the Big Issue. “I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism, and I find that missing in what’s happening now.” Romero took an intellectual view to his depiction of zombies, an approach he found lacking in some of the work that came after him. “I grew up on these slow-moving-but-you-can’t-stop-them [creatures], where you’ve got to find the Achilles’ heel, or in this case, the Achilles’ brain,” Romero told The Times in 2005, referring to the organ whose destruction waylays a zombie. “In [the remake] they’re just dervishes, you don’t recognize any of them, there’s nothing to characterize them.... [But] I like to give even incidental zombies a bit of identification. I just think it’s a nice reminder that they’re us. They walked out of one life and into this.” His critical eye could be trained on subjects beyond the undead. In 1988, he remarked on the street scene on Hollywood Boulevard to a Times reporter, making a prediction that proved true. “I know they’re trying to clean up Hollywood Boulevard,” he said eyeing the odd, colorful crowd at rush hour. “But you’ll always be able to get a tattoo here. It’ll just cost more.” At the time, he was promoting the horror film “Monkey Shines.” “I’ve been criticized the most for not writing good-guy/bad-guy characters,” he explained. “But my people aren’t clear-cut because real people aren’t clear-cut. They’re usually very gray, very ambiguous. “That’s what makes this story so disturbing, because you don’t know where you stand with everyone. There’s a wonderful line in the original novel — ‘the devil is instinct.’ And I think that’s what I responded to most — the theme of the evil within, the Jekyll-and-Hyde quality of the character.” |
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