RIP Lois Geary

RIP Lois Geary

Santa Fe New Mexican
By Staff
June 30, 2014
 
LOIS ANN GEARY July 25th, 1929 June 28th, 2014 Lois Ann Geary was born on July 25th, 1929 in Fort Wayne, IN, the second of six children. The family moved to Cincinnati, OH in 1938, where Lois spent the following 23 years. In 1961 Lois arrived in Santa Fe, NM where she lived until her death. Lois was a fixture in the Santa Fe arts community, where she acted in countless stage productions. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, she also appeared in numerous films including Silverado, The Astronaut Farmer, Sunshine Cleaning, and The Last Stand. Lois was also a tireless advocate for animals, volunteering at adoption clinics, animal shelters, and with animal habitat conservation groups. Lois passed away peacefully at her home on Saturday, June 28th, surrounded by friends and family. She is survived by her daughter, Janice Bledsoe of Augusta, GA; her sisters Georgianna Tombragel and Joan Blumberg of Cincinnati, OH; her sister Dianne Davis of Tucson, AZ; fifteen nieces and nephews; and her rescued pets Lancelot, Mamie, and Penny. A memorial service will be held on Thursday, July 3rd at 11 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at 107 West Barcelona Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505. All are welcome. Berardinelli Family Funeral Service 1399 Luisa Street Santa Fe, NM 87505 (505) 984-8600


GEARY, Lois (Lois Ann Geary)
Born: 7/25/1929, Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A.
Died: 6/28/2014, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.

Lois Geary's westerns - actress:
Silverado - 1985 (Mrs. Parker)
The Tracker - 1988 (station master's wife)
Doc West (TV) - 2008 (Grandma Melody Mitchell)
Triggerman (TV) - 2008 (Grandma Melody Mitchell)

RIP Wolf Koenig

Doc pioneer Wolf Koenig passes away 

Realscreen

By Adam Benzine
6/27/2014
 
Documentary pioneer Wolf Koenig (pictured), who spent 47 years working at Canada’s National Film Board (NFB), has passed away at the age of 86.
 
Over the course of a long career covering documentaries, animation and narrative work, the German-born Canadian filmmaker co-directed several historically significant NFB docs including City of Gold (1957), The Days Before Christmas (1958) and Stravinsky (1965).
 
Alongside notables such as Terence Macartney-Filgate, Roman Kroitor and Tom Daly, Koenig was one of the principal contributors to the NFB’s Candid Eye series, which was influential in the development of direct cinema.
 
In a memoriam posting, the Canadian organization praised Koenig’s films “for their sophisticated style and what was often a subtle irony in their observation of human behavior and modern society.”
 
The NFB noted that the filmmaker designed the animation for Colin Low’s The Romance of Transportation in Canada (1953), winning an award in Cannes; and was also the cinematographer for Corral (1954), Low’s first documentary.
 
“The style of this film, with its poetic approach and absence of commentary, was a first in a Canadian documentary production,” the organization wrote of the latter.
 
Other docs he co-directed included Glenn Gould – Off the Record (1959), a portrait of the eponymous pianist; and Lonely Boy (1962), a short film on pop star Paul Anka. Both were co-directed with Roman Kroitor.
 
Koenig served as exec producer of the NFB’s animation studio from 1962-67 and again from 1972-75. Later in his career, he worked as a producer of docs and animated films, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Alanis Obomsawin’s account of the Oka crisis, before retiring from the NFB in 1995.
 
In an oft-repeated (and oft-paraphrased) quote about the nature of documentary making and editing, he famously said: “Every cut is a lie. It’s never that way – those two shots were never next to each other in time that way. But you’re telling a lie in order to tell the truth.”
 
Koenig was born in 1927 and passed away yesterday (June 26). He is survived by his sister Rachel Byck, his brother Joe Koenig, and his nieces Judy, Sarah, Susan, Anne, Nina and Debbie.

 

KOENIG, Wolf
Born: 10/17/1927, Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Died: 6/26/2014, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 
Wolf Koenig’s westerns – producer, director:
City of Gold – 1957 [co-director]
Candid Eye – 1978 [producer]

RIP Vic Izay

Bit player and character actor Victor ‘Vic’ Izay died on January 20, 2014 in Glendora, California. He was 90. Vic was a war hero, author, director, playwright, teacher, Shakespeare scholar, clown, gourmand, and bon vivant, and while never quite making the A-List by winning an Oscar or an Emmy, he managed to carve out a career in film, television, and the theatre.

 
Victor was born December 23, 1923 inn Watertown, New York to Hungarian immigrants George and Helen Izay in the same year as Marcel Marceau, Harry Reasoner, Maria Callas, Norman Mailer and Henry Kissinger.  His father was successful in real estate until the crash in 1929.  The family was broke and they moved to Syracuse.  To help make money for the family's expenses, the young boy had to endure a miserable paper route for four years delivering the morning Post-Standard in all weather. 
 
Everyone who knew Vic loved him and that is no exaggeration for he was an excellent host and storyteller.  You only had to attend one of his Christmas/Birthday parties or Backyard Shakespeare get-togethers to become a fan.  He was a humble and self-effacing man but to his family he was "big in the business," a phrase he used playfully to describe his modest Hollywood career.
 
 
IZAY, Vic (Victor Izay)
Born: 12/23/1923, Watertown, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 1/20/2014, Glendale, California, U.S.A.
 
Vic Izay’s westerns – actor:
The Westerner (TV) – 1960 (Eustace, bartender)
The Rebel (TV) – 1961 (Abel Hawkins, preacher)
Ride the High Country -1962 (Jake)
Rawhide (TV) – 1964, 1965 (Fred Holt, Clerk)
Branded (TV) – 1965, 1966 (banker, hotel clerk)
Gunsmoke (TV) – 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974 (Bull)
Cimmaron Strip (TV) – 1967 (Pedro)
The Over the Hill Gang (TV) – 1969 (townsman)
The Ballad of Cable Hogue – 1970 (stage office clerk)
The Beguiled – 1971 (wagon driver)
Billy Jack – 1971 (doctor)
Bonanza (TV) – 1972 (foreman)
Brotherhood of the Gun (TV) – 1991 (Harkins)
Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (TV) - 1993 (Pastor Zach)
Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1983 (Dr. Jenkins)
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (TV) – 1983 (Thomas Hall)
Young Guns – 1988 (Justice Wilson)

RIP Paula Kent

Paula Kent Meehan (1931-2014)

 
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of PAULA KENT MEEHAN, Founder of Redken Laboratories, Inc. Paula passed away Monday, June 23rd in her Beverly Hills home at the age of 82. Ms. Meehan established the “Scientific Approach to Beauty” based on her dedication to developing products that respect the natural pH of the hair and skin. She also pioneered the concept of teaching chemistry to hairdressers, enabling them to better serve their clients.
 
 “Today, we lost a true legend in the professional haircare industry. The legacy that she has left sustains the brand today,” says Redken US General Manager, Leslie Marino. “Paula created products and education programs that propelled the industry’s transformation. Her pioneering ways will be missed but her spirit will be in our hearts and minds forever.”
 
In 1960, a young actress and model, Paula Kent, launched her business career, founding with Jheri Redding, a small California based company, Redken Laboratories, Inc. Ms. Kent pioneered the “Scientific Approach to Beauty” based on her dedication to developing products compatible with the natural elements of hair and skin. Her highly sensitive skin and hair reacted adversely to many products on the market. Her quest was to discover why. Redken began with three products and an intensive education program for hairdressers about the chemistry of hair and skin thereby enabling them to better serve their clients and generally elevating a career in hairdressing to that of a profession.
 
For the last 21 years, Ms Meehan has been headquartered in her Beverly Hills KenQuest building which will serve as a tribute to her memory. Paula created the Global Salon Business Awards through the B.E.S.T. Foundation to honor leading salons in the world for their strategy, globalization, brand and lifestyle marketing, creativity, inspiration and entrepreneurship. Paula Kent Meehan has received countless industry awards including “Hall of Leaders” given by the North American Hairstyling Awards and Intercoiffure’s Lifetime Achievement. In 1992 she was named one of Entrepreneurial Women magazine’s “Eight Most Powerful Woman Business Owners” and was selected as one of the “Top Fifty Women Business Owner” by Working Woman magazine. #1 on Los Angeles Business Journal’s list of women-owned businesses in LA for four consecutive years; also named 2003 “Woman of the Year” for California’s 42nd assembly district.
 
Paula’s wide-reaching philanthropic work most recently included major donations to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and the Beverly Hills 9/11 Memorial Garden. She served as president of a pet rescue and adoption foundation she opened in Beverly Hills called Pets 90210 – The Pet Care Foundation. An avid animal lover, Paula was also a supporter of Woofstock.
It’s been said, “You just cannot out give Paula Kent Meehan.”
 
One message Paula would leave to us would come from the pen of her favorite poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “That which should come to you will come to you through open and winding passages.”
 
 
KENT, Paula (Paula Kent Baer)
Born: 8/9/1931, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A
Died: 6/23/2014, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.
 
Paula Kent’s western – actress:
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (TV) – 1955 (Mary Lake)

RIP Raúl Ramírez

Death of Mexican actor Raul Ramirez

 
Zacatecas en Imagen
By Staff
June 24, 2014
 
 
MEXICO CITY -. The actor, filmmaker and writer Raul Ramirez died on Sunday at age 87 after health complications because of age, today his death was reported.
 
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on January 28, 1927, the outstanding actor also served as a producer of films and soap operas and managed to intervene in his 50 year work history, 117 jobs.
 
He studied acting at school Andrés Soler and his first job was in “La cinta Marejada” in 1952, where he shared credits with actors Carlos Navarro, Isabela Corona and Barbara Gil.
 
His last works were interpretive in soap operas such as “Salome” and “Mariana de la Noche”.
 
Ramirez chaired the National Association of Interpreters (ANDI) 1980-1988, where he faced trial for mismanagement at the end of it in 1988 and was imprisoned three months.
 
In 2000, the Mexican Society of Directors, Raúl Ramírez awarded the Silver Medal of Merit of the

Director for his 25 years in film.

 
The remains of Raúl Ramírez were veiled and cremated yesterday at a funeral home in Mexico City Sullivan.

 
RAMIREZ, Raúl (Raúl Ramírez Martinou)
Born: 1/28/1927, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Died: 6/22/2014, Mexico, Federal District, Mexico
 
Raúl Ramírez’ westerns – actor, assistant art director:
El aguila negra en ‘El vengador solitario) - 1954
Pueblo quieto – 1955
Mal de amores (Rogaciano el huapanguero) – 1957 (Alvaro)
El ciclon – 1959 (Pedro Zarate)
La diligencia de la muerte – 1961 (Don Regino)
La moneda rota - 1962
Las bravuconas – 1963
Entre bala y bala – 1963
Herencia maldita - 1963
Vuelve el Texano – 1966
Los tres salvajes – 1966
El fugitivo - 1966
La leyenda del bandido – 1967
Todo el horizonte para morir - 1971
Alguien tiene que morir - 1979
One Man’s Hero – 1999 [assistant art director]

RIP Eli Wallach

Prolific U.S. character actor Eli Wallach dies at 98: NYT

 
Reuters
By Bill Trott
June 25, 2014
 
Eli Wallach, an early practitioner of method acting who made a lasting impression as the scuzzy bandit Tuco in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", died on Tuesday at the age of 98, the New York Times reported.
 
Wallach appeared on the big screen well into his 90s in Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer" and Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" sequel and other films.
 
"It's what I wanted to do all my life," Wallach said of his work in an interview in 2010.
 
Having grown up the son of Polish Jewish immigrants in an Italian-dominated neighborhood in New York, Wallach might have seemed an unlikely cowboy, but some of his best work was in Westerns.
 
Many critics thought his definitive role was Calvera, the flamboyant, sinister bandit chief in "The Magnificent Seven". Others preferred him in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as Tuco, who was "the ugly", opposite Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's classic spaghetti Western.
 
Years later, Wallach said strangers would recognize him and start whistling the distinctive theme from the film.
 
Wallach graduated from the University of Texas, where he picked up the horseback-riding skills that would serve him well in later cowboy roles, and studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse Actors Studio before World War Two broke out.
 
DYNAMIC ACTOR, PROLIFIC CAREER
 
"Wallach is the quintessential chameleon, effortlessly inhabiting a wide range of characters, while putting his inimitable stamp on every role," the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gave him an honorary Oscar in 2010, wrote in a profile on its website.
 
After serving as an Army hospital administrator during the war, he found work on the New York stage and took classes at the Actor's Studio, which used Method acting in which actors draw on personal memories and emotions to flesh out a role.
 
He appeared in "This Property Is Condemned" and ended up marrying the show's leading lady, Anne Jackson - a marriage that also led to several stage and screen collaborations.
 
Wallach made a name on Broadway with roles in two Tennessee Williams' works, "Camino Real" and "The Rose Tattoo," for which he won a Tony in 1951, as well as a two-year run in "Mr. Roberts."
 
His first movie was another Williams work, "Baby Doll" in 1956. Other major films included "How the West Was Won", "Mystic River", "The Holiday", "Lord Jim" and "The Misfits" - in which he starred with Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe with John Huston directing an Arthur Miller script - and "The Godfather Part 3."
 
Despite the notable movies, Wallach said it was his portrayal of the villain Mr. Freeze on the "Batman" television show of the 1960s that generated the most fan mail.
 
Wallach titled his autobiography "The Good, the Bad and Me: In My Anecdotage". He and his wife lived in New York and had three children.
 
The New York Times said his death had been confirmed by his daughter.
 
 
WALLACH, Eli (Eli Herschel Wallach)
Born: 12/17/1915, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 6/24/2014, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
 
Eli Wallach’s westerns – actor.
The Magnificent Seven – 1960 (Calvera)
The Misfits – 1961 (Guido)
How the West Was Won – 1962 (Charlie Gant)
Outlaws (TV) – 1962 (Sheriff Ned Devers)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966 (Tuco)
Ace High – 1968 (Cacopoulos)
Mackenna’s Gold – 1969 (Ben Baker)
Long Live Death... Yours! – 1971 (Max Lozoya)
The White, the Yellow, the Black – 1975 (Sheriff Edward ‘Black Jack’ Gideon)
Time Machine: When Cowboys Were King (TV) [himself]

RIP Terry Richards

BBC

By Staff
June 24, 2014
 
One of the UK's top stunt men, Terry Richards, who starred in more than 100 films including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark has died aged 81.
 
Known to hundreds of millions of people the world over as the black clad swordsman felled by Indiana Jones
 
Terry Richards, who lived in sheltered accommodation off Sharps Lane, Ruislip, was known to hundreds of millions of people the world over as the black clad swordsman felled by Indiana Jones in the famous market square scene in the 1981 film, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford.
 
David Terence Richards - known to all as Terry - was born in south London on November 2, 1932.
 
He went on to serve with the Welsh Guards, and after leaving the regiment, was working in London as a scaffolder. One of his friends, also an ex-guard, said a film crew needed extras with military training, so Terry gave it a go.
 
After a few successful engagements, he was then asked if he would fall off the scaffold for a riot scene. The stunt paid a few extra pounds – and that was the beginning of his career.
 
Terry Richards joined the film industry proper in 1957, as an extra then soon as a stunt man, working with Kirk Douglas in The Vikings (1958).
 
The Stunt Register, an industry list of accredited performers, was created in 1960 and Terry was one of its founding members.


RICHARDS, Terry (David Terence Richards)
Born:11/2/1932, South London, London, England, U.K.
Died: 6/14/2014, Ruislip, London, England, U.K.

Terry Richards western - actor:
The New Adventures of Zorro - 1991 (Sanchez)

RIP James Nelson

James Nelson Dead: Sound Editor, Producer Dies at 82

 

Variety

By Carmel Dagan
June 20, 2014
 
James Nelson, a sound editor, supervising sound editor and producer for film and television with more than 180 credits, including “Easy Rider,” “Five Easy Pieces,” “The Exorcist” and “American Graffiti,” has died. He was 82.
 
Director Monte Hellman, on whose classic 1971 film “Two-Lane Blacktop” Nelson worked, said, “He was one of my closest, dearest friends. He’s worked on all my movies. His first work was in sound editing and he did that on all my movies and even on the last one, ‘Road to Nowhere,’ he came in as a consultant just to make sure everything was right because I just wouldn’t do anything without his approval.”
 
Nelson was the supervising sound editor, often uncredited, on some of the classics of 1960s and ’70s cinema: Richard Rush’s film “Psych-Out” and Rafelson’s classic “Head,” both in 1968; “Easy Rider” in 1969; Rafelson’s “Five Easy Pieces”; Dalton Trumbo’s “Johnny Got His Gun”; Jack Nicholson’s directing debut, “Drive, He Said”; Peter Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show”; Bob Fosse’s “Cabaret”; Michael Ritchie’s “The Candidate”; Bob Rafelson’s “The King of Marvin Gardens”; William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”; George Lucas’ “American Graffiti”; and Terrence Malick’s “Badlands,” among others.
 
Nelson was said to have been a producer on “Star Wars” but was said to have had a fight with Lucas and have pulled his name from the credits.
 
Nelson was the uncredited sound effects editor on the 1956 film “Rock Around the Clock,” starring Bill Haley and the Comets, and on a number of other rock ‘n’ roll themed movies in the late ’50s and early ’60s, as well as on the 1958 film “The Girl Most Likely,” starring Jane Powell; John Frankenheimer’s 1962 “Birdman of Alcatraz” (on which he was credited for special sound effects); 1963 musical adaptation “Bye Bye Birdie”; a number of the so-called beach party movies.
 
His feature producting credits include an associate producer credit on James Bridges’ nuclear meltdown thriller “The China Syndrome,” starring Jane Fonda.
 
TV series credits include “Circus Boy” in 1957, “The Frank Sinatra Show,” “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin,” “Father Knows Best,” “Naked City,” “Dennis the Menace,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “Hazel” (on which he was credited as the supervising sound editor on all 114 episodes), “The Andy Griffith Show” (credited sound editor for 30 episodes), “Get Smart” (credited supervising sound editr on 30 episodes), “The Monkees” (credited on 58 episodes); “Tarzan” (59 episodes); and “The Brady Bunch” (49 episodes).
 
 
NELSON, James
Born: 3/29/1932, California, U.S.A.
Died: 6/?/2014, California, U.S.A.
 
James Nelson’s westerns – supervising sound editor:
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (TV) – 1954-1959
Circus Boy (TV) – 1956-1958
Run of the Arrow - 1957
The Proud Rebel - 1958
Empire (TV) – 1962-1964
The Bounty Killer - 1965
The Legend of Jesse James (TV) – 1965-1966
The Night of the Grizly - 1966
Ride in the Whirlwind 1966
The Shooting – 1966
The War Wagon - 1967
Dundee and the Culhane (TV) – 1967
The Cheyenne Social Club - 1970
El Condor - 1970
Madron – 1970
The McMasters – 1970
Zapata - 1970
The Hired Hand - 1971
They Call Me Marcado – 1971
Jory - 1973

RIP Gloryette Clark

Gloryette Patricia Clark, lost her long and courageous battle with Parkinson's Disease on June 8, 2014. Born on March 17, 1934, Gloryette lived a full life of achievement, love, adventure and beauty. She grew up in the Las Vegas and Los Angeles area, graduating from Van Nuys High in 1952. From there, it wasn't long until she was working for Disney in the Publicity Department. From Disney, she moved up to Universal, eventually becoming a Film Editor, Screenwriter and Director. No small feat in an era and field that was predominately male. She worked a total of 35 years in the Motion Picture and Television Industry. In 1972, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Editing for her work on "The Bold Ones; The Lawyers". She had the pleasure to work with many famous Writers, Producers and Directors, including, Stephen J. Cannell, Roy Huggins and Robert Blake. Her professionalism and amazing talent earned her the highest regards from all who worked with her. The greatest love of her life, was her Family. She leaves behind her beloved Brother, David (Deborah) Howe, her two Sons, Kevin (Dawn) Clark and Doug (Suzanne) Clark, 11 Grandchildren, 2 Great Grandchildren and a large extended family, all of who loved and cherished her. We will forever miss and love our Sweet GG.

Memorial Services are Private, and the Family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made to “The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research."
 
 
CLARK Gloryette (Gloryette Patricia Clark)
Born: 3/17/1934, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.
Died: 6/8/2014, Los Angeles, Clalifornia, U.S.A.
 
Gloryette Clark’s westerns – screenwriter, film editor:
Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster – 1971 (TV) – 1971 [screenwriter, film editor]
Alias Smith and Jones (TV) – 1971-1974 [film editor]
This is the West That Was (TV) – 1974 [film editor]
The Invasion of Johnson County(TV) - 1976 [film editor]

RIP Aleksandr Kavalerov

Aleksandr Aveksandrovich Kavalerov died on June 17, 2015 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Aleksandr was a Soviet and Russian actor born in Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R. on July 10, 1951.  Kavalerov was his mother's surname; his father was Simon S. Epstein. Starting his cinema career in 1960, at the age of 9, he then appeared in several roles as kids and teenagers. Until 1980 he appeared in more than 25 movies. Later Kavalerov departed from cinema and returned again in 1990s-2000s, playing small roles in TV series.

 

KAVALEROV, Aleksandr (Aleksandr Aveksandrovich Aleksandr Epstein)

Born: July 10, 1951, Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R.
Died: June 17, 2105, St. Petersburg, Russia
 
Aleksandr Kavalerov’s western – actor:
Alaska Kid (TV) – 1993 (P'yany v bare)

RIP Nick Nostro

Nick Nostro is dead.

 
Inquieto notizie
By Staff
June 15, 2014
 
He died this morning the director Nicola Nostro, known to all as Nick. Nostro was 83 years old.
 
From an early age he worked in the film industry as a screenwriter and assistant director. In 1962, his directorial debut with the movie ‘Il sangue e la sfida” in which appeared Andrea Checchi, José Greci, Gérard Landry and Rossella Como.
 
Nostro had directed a dozen films before returning to Gioia Tauro, where he managed a business for many years.
 
The funeral will be held tomorrow at 15.30 to the cathedral of Gioia Tauro.
 
 
NOSTRO, Nick (Nicola Nostro)
Born: 4/21/1931, Gioia Tauro, Reggio Calabria, Italy
Died: 6/15/2014, Gioia Tauro, Calabira, Italy
 
Nick Nostro’s westerns – assistant director, director:
A Dollar of Fear – 1965 [assistant director]
Epitaph for a Fast Gun - 1965 [director]
One After the Other – 1968 [director]

RIP Ruby Dee

Screen, stage legend Ruby Dee dead at 91

 
CNN
By Alan Duke
June 12, 2014
 
Ruby Dee, the award-winning actress whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, has died. She was 91.
 
Dee died peacefully at her New Rochelle, New York, home on Wednesday, according to her representative, Michael Livingston.
 
Dee -- often with her late husband, Ossie Davis -- was a formidable force in both the performing arts community and the civil rights movement. She was friends with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and received the Frederick Douglass Award in 1970 from the National Urban League.
 
Davis preceded his wife in death in 2005.
 
Dee earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in "American Gangster" (2007). She also won an Emmy and Grammy for other work.
 
Broadway star Audra McDonald paid tribute to Dee when she accepted a Tony Award last Sunday, crediting Dee, Maya Angelou, Diahann Carroll and Billie Holiday for making her career possible. McDonald won a best actress Tony in 2004 for playing the same role Dee played on Broadway in 1959 and in the 1961 film version of "A Raisin in the Sun."
 
Her acting career started in New York in the 1940s, but it was her role in the 1950 movie "The Jackie Robinson Story" that first brought her national attention.
 
 
DEE, Ruby (Ruby Ann Wallace)
Born: 10/27/1922 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
Died: 6/11/2014, New Rochelle, New York, U.S.A.
 
Ruby Dee’s western – actress:
Buck and the Preacher – 1972 (Ruth)

RIP Maurizio Pastrovich

Maurizio’s daughter Barbara, released word that her father producer, and production manager Maurizio Pastrovich had passed away sometime during the early hours of June 10^th in Rome.

 
Pastrovich was involved in over 60 films and television productions in various capacities during the golden age of Italian cinema from the mid-1960s through 2012.

 

PASTROVICH, Maurizio
Born: 3/28/1944, Faenza, Ravenna, Italy
Died: 6/10/2014, Rome, Lazio, Italy
 
Maurizio Pastrovich’s westerns – unit manager, assistant production manager, production manager:
Paths of War – 1969 [assistant production manager]
Light the Fuse… Sartana is Coming – 1970 [unit manager]
Guns for Dollars – 1971 [unit manager]
Pistol Packin’ Preacher – 1971 [unit manager]
His Name was Holy Ghost – 1972 [unit manager]
A Man Called Invincible – 1973 [unit manager]
Zorro – 1975 [production manager]
China 9, Liberty 37 – 1978 [production manager]

RIP Dennis Lewiston

British cinematographer and former camera operator Dennis Lewiston died on June 8, 2014 in England.  He was 80. His career spanned the 1960s through the 1990s. He worked mostly on American television movies and occasionally worked as a film director or screenwriter.

 
 
LEWISTON, Dennis (Dennis C. Lewiston)
Born: 5/22/1934, London, England, U.K.
Died: 6/8/2014, England, U.K.
 
Dennis Lewiston’s westerns – cinematographer, cameraman:
A Talent for Loving – 1969 [cameraman]
Billy the Kid (TV) – 1989 [cinematographer]
Montana (TV) – 1990 [cinematographer]
A Mother’s Gift (TV) – 1995 [cinematographer]

RIP Martha Hyer

Academy Award-nominated actress Martha Hyer, 89, dies

 

The New Mexican

By Robert Nott
June 9, 2014
 
Martha Hyer, one of the last studio glamour girls of the Golden Age of Hollywood, died May 31 at her Santa Fe home. She was 89 and had lived in Santa Fe since the mid-1980s.
 
A representative from Rivera Funeral Home confirmed the death and said there was no funeral service or memorial planned.
 
A striking blonde who once turned down a date request from the young Sen. John F. Kennedy, Hyer was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her work in 1958’s Some Came Running, an MGM film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. She lost to Wendy Hiller, for her role in Separate Tables. Although she put on a good face during the remainder of the Oscars show, Hyer later recalled that she went home and cried all night.
 
The Oscar nod did not help Hyer’s career, which started with a three-year contract at RKO in the early 1940s and ended with a series of forgettable cheap films made in both America and Europe.
 
Martha Hyer was born Aug. 10, 1924, in Fort Worth, Texas, to Julien C. Hyer (a Texas legislator) and Agnes Barnhart. In her 1990 autobiography, Finding My Way, she described her childhood desire to be an actress and her love of film. “Movies were magic, our passport to outside,” she wrote.
 
She enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where she was spotted by a Hollywood talent agent — despite the fact that she was playing a bearded elder in a Greek tragedy. Soon, she was under contract to RKO during the war years, appearing in several B-Westerns. “I was Little Nell in lots of those,” she wrote.
 
For several years, Hyer was unable to secure a secure toehold in Hollywood, although she worked in everything from Abbott and Costello Go To Mars to the B-adventure Yukon Gold and the African safari film The Scarlet Spear. She married the latter’s director, C. Ray Stahl, but the marriage quickly ended in divorce.
 
Hyer’s first big break came when she was cast as William Holden’s fiancée in Billy Wilder’s 1954 romantic comedy Sabrina, which starred Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. In her autobiography, she recalled Bogart as being helpful and selfless in his scenes with her.
 
But ensuing roles in pictures like Red Sundown, opposite Rory Calhoun, and Francis in The Navy, opposite Donald O’Connor and a talking mule, again stalled Hyer’s career. She worked with Rock Hudson — whom she said was shallow and self-centered — in 1956’s Battle Hymn. In quick succession, she found herself playing straight woman to the likes of David Niven, Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis in films that spotlighted their characters, not hers. She liked Niven and Hope, but not Lewis.
 
Some Came Running, based on the James Joyce novel, briefly rescued Hyer and brought her critical acclaim. She wrote fondly of the experience, noting that MacLaine was “brilliant,” Sinatra “never better” and Martin “marvelous.” MacLaine received a best actress nomination for her work on the film.
 
But most of Hyer’s 1960s films were weak, including Bikini Beach, House of 1,000 Dolls and Picture Mommy Dead — “all ones I’d rather forget,” she wrote. She did secure a supporting role in Hal Wallis’ 1965 production The Sons of Katie Elder, but she again played second — or in this case, fifth — fiddle to a cast topped by John Wayne and Dean Martin.
 
She married Wallis in December 1966. In her autobiography, she reflected on both his strong points and his weaknesses, including his tight-fisted approach to spending that left her to finance the couple’s lifestyle.
 
By her own admission, Hyer became caught up in the high-living culture of the Hollywood lifestyle and began overspending. Shortly after she penned a first-person account of her lifestyle in a 1959 Life magazine article, she came home to find her Hollywood home robbed of all its goods. She later managed to pay ransom money to get some of her paintings back.
 
Worse was to come. By the early 1980s, Hyer was in debt to loan sharks, to the tune of several million dollars. With her career behind her — her last film roles were in the early 1970s — she turned to God for help and found immediate solace and peace. In her memoir, she wrote: “God poured through me.”
 
Shortly thereafter, Wallis, as well as some lawyers and the FBI, helped Hyer work her way out of her financial mess.
 
Hyer first visited New Mexico when Wallis was here filming Red Sky at Morning, the 1971 movie version of Richard Bradford’s 1968 novel. “The Indians say Santa Fe is sacred ground. I believe it,” she wrote.
 
Wallis died in 1986, and Hyer moved to Santa Fe shortly thereafter. “This country casts a spell and it never lets go,” she wrote.
 
Hyer became somewhat of a recluse in her later days, preferring to paint, hike and spend time with close friends.
 
“When you live with fame as a day-to-day reality, the allure of privacy and anonymity is as strong as the desire for fame for those who never had it,” she said.
 
 
HYER, Martha
Born: 8/10/1924, Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.A.
Died: 5/31/2014, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
 
Martha Hyer’s westerns – actress, screenwriter:
Thunder Mountain – 1947 (Ellie Jorth)
Gun Smugglers – 1948 (Judy Davis)
Roughshod – 1949 (Marcia)
Rustlers – 1949 (Ruth Abbott)
The Kangaroo Kid – 1950 (Mary Corbett)
Outcasts of Black Mesa – 1950 (Ruth Dorn)
Salt Lake Raiders – 1950 (Helen Thornton)
Frisco Tornado – 1950 (Jean Martin)
The Lone Ranger (TV) – 1950 (Molly Crawford)
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (TV) – 1950 (Elsa Gray)
Yukon Gold – 1952 (Marie Briand)
Wild Stallion – 1952 (Caroline Cullen)
Battle of Rogue River – 1954 (Brett McClain)
Wyoming Renegades – 1954 (Nancy Warren)
Red Sundown – 1956 (Caroline Murphy)
Showdown in Abilene – 1956 (Peggy Bigelow)
Once Upon a Horse… - 1958 (Miss Amity Babb)
Rawhide (TV) – 1959 (Hannah Haley)
The Deputy (TV) – 1960 (Joy Cartwright)
Zane Grey Theater (TV) – 1960 (Laurie Pritchard)
Blood on the River – 1964 (Nancy Mailer)
The Sons of Katie Elder – 1965 (Mary Gordon)
Branded (TV) – 1965 (Callie Clay)
The Night of the Grizzly – 1956 (Angela Cole)
The Virginian (TV) – 1970 (Amalia Clark)
Rooster Cogburn – 1975 [screenwriter]

RIP Rik Mayall

Comedian and actor Rik Mayall dies aged 56

 
RTE News
By Staff
June 9, 2014
 
Comedian and actor Rik Mayall died this morning, a spokesman for Brunskill Management said today.
 
He was 56 years old.
 
He was left seriously ill after a quad bike accident in 1998 which left him in a coma for several days, but was working until recently.
 
Mayall was best known for his roles in Bottom, the Young Ones and The New Statesman.
 
He also starred in Drop Dead Fred and appeared in Blackadder several times.
 
Mayall also played Alistair Itchdaddy in RTÉ's Damo and Ivor.
 
Speaking about the accident, Mayall last year said doctors had kept him alive on a life-support machine for five days and were about to turn it off when he began to show signs of life.
 
He used to mark the occasion by exchanging presents with his wife and children and said the near-death experience changed his life.
 
He said: "The main difference between now and before my accident is I'm just very glad to be alive.
 
"Other people get moody in their 40s and 50s - men get the male menopause. I missed the whole thing. I was just really happy."
 
Mayall started on stage in a duo, The Dangerous Brothers, with long-time collaborator Adrian Edmondson after they met at Manchester University.
 
The pair, who appeared together in The Young Ones, reprised their original act in the anarchic comedy Bottom.

 
MAYALL, Rik (Richard Michael Mayall)
Born: 3/7/1958, Harlow, Essex, England, U.K.
Died: 6/9/2014, England, U.K.

Rik Mayall’s western – actor:
Comic Strip Presents - A Fistful of Travellers’ Cheques (TV) - 1983 (Carlos)

RIP Jacques Herlin

Death of supporting actor actor Jacques Herlin.

 
LeMonde
By Staff
07.06.2014
 
The actor Jacques Herlin, supporting actor who had an impressive filmography, died Saturday June 7th at the age of 86 in a Paris hospital, his talent agency Artmedia told AFP..
 
Born August 17, 1927 in Paris, Jacques Herlin had more than one hundred films to his credit in nearly 60 year career. His last major role was that of brother Amédée in "Of Gods and Men" by Xavier Beauvois film awarded the Grand Jury Prize of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.
 
This spring, he appeared in "Street ravishing" based on a novel by Boris Vian, to be released in September on France 2.
 
 
HERLIN, Jacques (Jacques Dejouette)
Born: 8/17/1927, Paris, Île-de-France, France
Died: 6/7/2014, Paris, Île-de-France, France
 
Jacques Herlin’s westerns – actor:
Buffalo Bill, Hero of the Far West - 1964 (Indian chief)
Fort Yuma Gold - 1966 (Riggs’ henchman)
Yankee – 1966 (Filosofo)
7 Pistols for a Massacre – 1967 (Mr. Pink)
Two Faces of the Dollar – 1967 (Mathematician/Mad Michael)
Westerns, Italian Style – 1968 [himself]

RIP Yvan Labelle

Labelle, Yvan (1960-2014)

 
The family announces with sorrow his death in North Bay, Monday June 2nd 2014 at the age of 54 years. Son of the late Jean Claude Labelle and of Fleurette Fortier (née Plante) (Bert). Loving father of Gilles (Pamela) of Ottawa and Alain of Sturgeon Falls. Dear brother of Michel (Maria) of Welland and Laurent (Thérèse) of Alberta. Also survived by his best friend and caretaker Roberte Bureau of Sturgeon Falls. Yvan was an actor, known for his role in Black Robe (1991), The Spreading Ground (2000), Bogus (1996) and many more. Many thanks to Dr. Andrée Morrison and to all personnel at the North Bay Regional Health Centre- Critical Care Unit for their dedicated and compassionate care of Yvan. The family will receive friends at the Théorêt Bourgeois Funeral Home, Sturgeon Falls, Saturday June 7th 2014 after 10:00 am. A funeral service will follow at 12:00 (noon) in the funeral home chapel.
 
 
LABELLE, Yvan
Born: 1960, Canada
Died: 6/2/2014, North Bay, Ontario, Canada
 
Yvon Labelle’s westerns – actor:
Black Robe – 1991 (Mestigoit)
Hawkeye (TV) – 1995 (Spirit Chaser)

RIP Clifford Severn

US cricket pioneer Severn passes away at 88.

 

ESPN
By Peter Della Penna
June 5, 2014
 
Cliff Severn, a former USA national team player and pioneer in Southern California cricket, died on Wednesday at the age of 88. Severn was a longtime member of the Los Angeles cricket community and many players and supporters have taken to social media to mourn his passing.
 
"A US Cricket legend, true lover and devotee of cricket," wrote Madhukar "Mark" Sood, a member of the Southern California Cricket Association board of directors. "God bless and RIP. There will be cricket in heaven now."
 
Clifford EB Severn was born in London, England on September 21, 1925, and was the second-oldest of eight children to Dr. Clifford B Severn a South Afrikaner, and mother Rachel, an Afrikaner. Dr. Severn moved the family back to South Africa and then Los Angeles in 1933, where all eight of the children went on to have varying degrees of success in the Hollywood film industry. Clifford EB Severn is listed on IMDB for having roles in 18 movies including 1938's A Christmas Carol, a starring role in 1940's Gaucho Serenade alongside famous American cowboy movie star Gene Autry, and a small part in legendary director John Ford's 1941 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, How Green Was My Valley.
 
Severn played cricket for Hollywood CC in his youth alongside former England Test cricketer and actor Sir Aubrey Smith. At age 18, he quit his acting career to join the British Army in South Africa during World War II. Upon his return to Los Angeles, he became increasingly active in the local cricket community. His father left Hollywood CC and, together with Cliff, created Britamer Cricket Club in 1947, one of the oldest clubs in the SCCA. Severn remained loyal to Britamer CC as a player and administrator for 50 years. Along with Cliff, two other brothers also wound up playing for the USA - Winston and Raymond.
 
"He was colorblind in the sense that he really wanted to bring anyone and all people to this game of cricket," Severn's son Cliff told ESPNcricinfo. "When he went on a trip, he would always bring a cricket bat and would always try to take one on a plane with him. If he ran into someone from a cricket country, whether it was India, Australia, Bangladesh, he would approach them and start talking cricket. If they lived in California, he would try to get them to join because a lot of people come to this country not realizing cricket is played here. He brought a lot of people into Southern California cricket."
 
Severn made his USA debut as a 39-year-old alongside 22-year-old brother Winston in 1965, against Canada, at Calgary's Riley Park as part of the longest running international rivalry in international cricket now known as the Auty Cup. He batted at six making 26 and 4 in the drawn two-day match. A year later in the return contest at The Sir C Aubrey Smith Field in Los Angeles, Severn opened the batting for USA while making 24 and 8 in USA's 54-run win.
 
The Sir C Aubrey Smith Field had opened in 1933 and was part of Griffith Park in Los Angeles where cricket was played from 1898 until 1978 when the property was seized and turned into an equestrian facility for the 1984 Summer Olympics. The SCCA acquired three grounds at Woodley Park in the nearby suburb of Van Nuys as a substitute for the space lost at Griffith Park. The fourth and final ground at Woodley's Leo Magnus Cricket Complex was acquired in the mid-1990s and is named the Severn Ground after the patriarch of the family, "Doc" Severn.
 
Aside from his involvement with Britamer CC and Hollywood CC, Severn also helped establish University Cricket Club initially as a vehicle for students at UCLA, where he went to college, before membership opened up to the broader cricket community. Outside of Los Angeles, he also co-founded Stanford Cricket Club in the Northern California Cricket Association and remained an active player in social cricket matches around the Los Angeles area until he suffered a stroke at the age of 85 in October 2010. Severn also battled through a series of smaller strokes to keep playing for another year into 2011. Despite the complications, he continued to turn out at Woodley to watch and stay involved in the camaraderie of the game.
 
"One of the nicest gentlemen I have ever met my entire life," wrote USA offspinner Abhimanyu Rajp. "He did more for cricket in USA, SCCA, than one could ever know. 'I wish I had your spin,' he claimed to me once. That was an honour in itself. There is a field named after his family here at the Leo Magnus Cricket Complex. But I bet a lot of people don't know why. It's a great loss to the cricket community. His legacy will live on long after him."
 
Severn is survived by his wife of 46 years, Percy, his brothers Winston and Christopher, as well as son Clifford and daughter Catherine.
 
 
SEVERN, Clifford (Clifford Eb Severn)
Born: 9/1/1925, London, England, U.K.
Died: 6/4/2014, California, U.S.A.
 
Clifford Severn’s western – actor:
Gaucho Serenade – 1940 (Ronnie Willoughby)

RIP Mona Freeman

Actress Mona Freeman Dies at 87
 
The Hollywood Reporter
By Mike Barnes
6/6/2014
 
She played teens in such 1940s and '50s films as "The Heiress," "Junior Miss," "That Brennan Girl," "Dear Ruth" and "I Was a Shoplifter."
 
Actress Mona Freeman, cast as a perpetual teenager throughout the 1940s and '50s in such films as The Heiress, Junior Miss, Dear Ruth and I Was a Shoplifter, has died. She was 87.
 
Freeman died May 23 in her Beverly Hills home after a long illness, her daughter, actress Monie Ellis, told the Los Angeles Times.
 
Freeman also was a painter, whose portrait of Mary See has been displayed for years in See's Candies stores across the U.S.
 
Freeman played Marian Almond, the cousin of Olivia de Havilland's character who gets engaged in William Wyler's acclaimed film The Heiress (1949). In Junior Miss (1945), she starred as 13-year-old Lois Graves, who with her older sister (Peggy Ann Garner) meddle in people's love lives. And she portrayed Ziggy, who learns some terrible habits from her mother in That Brennan Girl (1946).
 
Freeman also starred as Miriam Wilkins, a teen who has a pen-pal romance with a soldier (William Holden) during World War II but signs her older sister's name to the letters, in Dear Ruth (1947). She then reprised the role in Dear Wife (1949) and Dear Brat (1951).
 
The blonde and youthful Freeman also appeared in such films as Till We Meet and Again Together Again, both released in 1944; the musical Mother Wore Tights (1947), as the daughter of Betty Grable's character; Streets of Laredo (1949), opposite Holden and Macdonald Carey; I Was a Shoplifter (1950), as a petty thief and daughter of a judge; and Otto Preminger's Angel Face (1952).
 
Her TV work included episodes of Maverick, Perry Mason, Wagon Train, The Millionaire and Branded. Her final onscreen credit came in the 1972 telefilm Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol.
 
Always cast as a bobbysoxer even as she approached age 30, Freeman became bored with acting and turned to portrait painting.
 
Born in Baltimore, Freeman worked as a teenage model in New York City and was named "Miss Subways" in 1941, the first one picked. She was signed to her first movie contract by RKO's Howard Hughes.
 
In addition to Ellis -- who starred as Gidget in the 1972 TV movie Gidget Gets Married -- survivors include six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
 
 
FREEMAN, Mona (Monica Elizabeth Freeman)
Born: 6/9/1926, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
Died: 5/23/2014, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A.
 
Mona Freeman’s westerns – actress:
Streets of Laredo – 1949 (Rannie Carter)
Branded – 1950 (Ruth Lavery)
Copper Canyon – 1950 (Caroline Desmond)
The Lady from Texas – 1951 (Bonnie Lee)
The Road to Denver – 1955 (Elizabeth Sutton)
Zane Grey Theater (TV) – 1956 (Sandy Neal)
Dragoon Wells Massacre – 1957 (Ann Bradley)
Frontier Justice (TV) – 1958
Wagon Train (TV) – 1958 (Betty Britton)
Maverick (TV) – 1959, 1960 (Modesty Blaine)
Riverboat (TV) – 1959 (Louise Rutherford)
Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV) – 1958, 1959 (Jackie Harris, Margaret Dunn)
Johnny Ringo (TV) – 1960 (Marilyn Barber)
The Tall Man (TV) – 1961 (Amy Dodds)
Branded (TV) – 1966 (Dora Kendall)

RIP Jane Adams

JANE ADAMS, August 7, 1918 - May 21, 2014

Actress Jane Adams, who was a leading lady in westerns and horror films in the 1940s, died in Bellingham, Washington, on May 21, 2014. She was born Betty Jane Bierce in San Antonio, Texas, on August 7, 1918. She turned down a scholarship to Juilliard to train at the Pasadena Playhouse. She was soon performing on the Lux Radio Theatre and working with the Harry Conover Modeling Agency. She made her film debut in the 1942 short "So You Want to Give Up Smoking". She was billed as Poni Adams for early film roles, including "Salome Where She Danced" (1945), "Trail to Vengeance" (1945), "Code of the Lawless" (1945), "Lady on a Train" (1945), and "This Love of Ours" (1945). She was best known for her role as Nina the hunchbacked nurse in the 1945 Universal horror classic "House of Dracula" with John Carradine as Count Dracula, Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's Monster, and Onslow Stevens as the mad scientist. She co-starred with Kirby Grant in several westerns, including "Lawless Breed" (1946), "Gunman's Code" (1946), and "Rustler's Round-Up" (1946). She was also seen in "Smooth as Silk" (1946), the serial "Lost City of the Jungle" (1946), "Night in Paradise" (1946), "The Runaround" (1946), "The Brute Man" (1946) with Rondo Hatton, "He Walked By Night" (1948), "Tarzan's Magic Fountain" (1949), "Gun Law Justice" (1949) with Jimmy Wakely, "Angels in Disguise" (1949), "Master Minds" (1949) opposite the Bowery Boys, the Cisco Kid western "The Girl From San Lorenzo" (1950), and "Street Bandits" (1951). She starred as Vicki Vale in the 1949 serial "Batman and Robin" opposite Robert Lowery as the Caped Crusader. She co-starred with western hero Johnny Mack Brown in "Western Renegades" (1949), "Law of the Panhandles" (1950), and "Outlaw Gold" (1950). She was featured in episodes of several television series in the 1950s, including "The Cisco Kid", "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok", "Dangerous Assignment", "The Adventures of Kit Carson", and "Superman". She largely retired from the screen in the early 1950s. Adams was married to a U.S. Navy pilot who died during World War II. She married Thomas K. Turnage in 1945, who became a Major General and earned the Distinguished Service Medal and a Bronze Star during the Korean War. Turnage also served as administrator of the Veterans Administration under Ronald Reagan from 1986 until it became a cabinet position in 1989. Adams was widowed in 2000 and is survived by their two children.

 
ADAMS, Jane (Betty Jean Bierce)
Born: 8/7/1918, San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A.
Died: 5/21/2014, Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A.
 
Jane Adams’ westerns – actress:
Code of the Lawless – 1945 (Julie Randall)
Salome Where She Danced – 1945 (Salome girl)
Trail of Vengeance – 1945 (Dorothy Jackson)
Rustler’s Round-up – 1946 (Josephine Fremont)
Gunmen’s Code – 1946 (Laura Burton)
Lawless Breed – 1946 (Marjorie ‘Maggie’ Bradley
Gun Law Justice – 1949 (Jane Darnton)
Western Renegades – 1949 (Judy Gordon)
The Girl from San Lorenzo – 1950 (Nora Malloy)
Law of the Panhandle – 1950 (Margie Kendall)
Outlaw Gold – 1950 (Kathy Martin)
The Cisco Kid (TV) – 1950 (Miss Harla)
The Adventures of Kit Carson (TV) – 1951 (Margarita Bolton, Margaret Owens)
Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (TV) – 1951 (Peggy)

RIP Ann B. Davis

Ann B. Davis, Alice on 'Brady Bunch,' dies

 
CNN
By Catherine E. Shoichet
June 1, 2014
 
Ann B. Davis, known for her role as housekeeper Alice Nelson on "The Brady Bunch," died Sunday, close friend Bishop William Frey said. She was 88.
 
According to Frey, Davis fell and hit her head Saturday morning in her bathroom. She suffered a subdural hematoma and never regained consciousness.
 
Appearing in her trademark light blue maid's uniform with a white apron, Alice anchored "The Brady Bunch" with her cheerful attitude and witty one-liners.
 
In a 2004 interview with the Archive of American Television, Davis described how she created the character.
 
"I made up a background story. I did have a twin sister, so I used that as a basis. ... I cared very much about this family. It was my family. It was close to my family as Alice would ever get. I would have died for any single one of them at any point," she said. "You know, they wrote me such gorgeous things to do, as the intermediary between the kids and the adults, and between the boys and the girls. And they gave me funny things to do."
 
In real life, Davis said she wasn't quite as handy around the house as her beloved character.
 
"I basically don't do that well with children, although my sister says I'm a great aunt," she told People, adding that she hates to cook.
 
"When it's my turn in the house," she told the magazine, "we just eat out."
 
Davis had planned to study medicine at the University of Michigan but caught the acting bug from her brother, who was a dancer in the national company of "Oklahoma," according to a biography of the actress on IMDb.com.
 
Her big break in Hollywood came when she won the role of Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz, the secretary on the 1950s sitcom "The Bob Cummings Show," IMDb said.
 
But to generations of American TV viewers, she was best known as Alice.
 
Frey, who knew Davis for 38 years, said fans often told her that they felt like they'd been raised by the character of Alice.
 
"Look how well you turned out," she would reply.
 
"All of wish we had an Alice. I wish I had an Alice," Davis told People magazine in 1992.
 
"What you see on 'The Brady Bunch' was who she was," Frey said. "She was a very faithful Christian person."
 
Davis mostly retired from show business in the late 1970s to settle down in an Episcopal community.
 
"I'm convinced we all have a God-shaped space in us, and until we fill that space with God, we'll never know what it is to be whole," she told People.
 
Even as she turned her focus more toward religion, she appeared in commercials and several stage productions.
 
In the 1995 "The Brady Bunch" movie, she played a truck driver, persuading a runaway Jan to return home.
 
She told the Archive of American Television that she loved working on the small screen.
 
"The neatest thing about television is that they write for you. ... They find out what you can do, what you do best, how it works, and how they can use you. And so from there on, it's wonderful. Because it's different. It's not like playing the same play forever and ever and ever," she said. "But the character's still the same. It just gets better and more developed. So that's great fun."
 
 
DAVIS, Ann B. (Ann Bradford Davis)
Born: 5/3/1926, Schenectady, New York, U.S.A.
Died: 6/1/2014, Texas, U.S.A.
 
Ann B. Davis’ western – actress:
Wagon Train (TV) – 1960 (Mrs. Foster)