The Hold Steady celebrated their 20th anniversary on Saturday night with a hometown blowout in Brooklyn. It was a fittingly rowdy birthday bash for these guys. The Hold Steady might have started as Brooklyn’s finest bar band, dabbling in Last Waltz cosplay when they were barely into their thirties. But by now, they’ve been doing it even longer than The Band circa The Last Waltz. This band loves to revel in rock & roll rituals and fetishize the details, so they did this occasion right. It was exactly two decades after their first show,...
- 2/2/2023
- by Rob Sheffield
- Rollingstone.com
With the Golden Globes set to get underway a little later tonight, the movie world has become a little less glamorous as iconic screen actress Anita Ekberg has passed away at the age of 83. There is no cinema lover who doesn't know Ekberg from her most famous role, playing "the most wonderful woman created since the beginning of time" in Frederico Fellini's "La Dolce Vita." She landed the role after capturing Hollywood's attention as the Swedish beauty who arrived in the United States to compete in the 1951 Miss Universe contest. She didn't win, but she was nonetheless signed to a contract with Universal Studios. She appeared in a string of films — including King Vidor's "War and Peace" with Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn, "Back from Eternity," "Interpol," and others. But it was "La Dolce Vita" that would be her defining role, and the one that launched her to international stardom.
- 1/11/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
The world lost two famous supporting screen talents this weekend. Firstly, comedian and famed character actor Taylor Negron died at the age of 57 after a long battle with cancer. You may not recognise the name, but his deadpan delivery and complete lack of fear about tackling all sorts of topics will long be remembered.
Negron is best known for numerous bit roles in various films and TV shows including "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "The Last Boy Scout," "Easy Money," "River's Edge," "Punchline," "Angels in the Outfield," "Spy Hard," "Bio-Dome," Chairman of the Board," "The Thin Pink Line," "Stuart Little," "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas ," "The In Crowd," "Loser," "The Hughleys," "So Little Time," "Funky Monkey," "The Aristocrats," "Three Days to Vegas," "Vamps" and more.
Sadly he isn't the only one to have passed on though as screen actress Anita Ekberg also died over the weekend at the age...
Negron is best known for numerous bit roles in various films and TV shows including "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "The Last Boy Scout," "Easy Money," "River's Edge," "Punchline," "Angels in the Outfield," "Spy Hard," "Bio-Dome," Chairman of the Board," "The Thin Pink Line," "Stuart Little," "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas ," "The In Crowd," "Loser," "The Hughleys," "So Little Time," "Funky Monkey," "The Aristocrats," "Three Days to Vegas," "Vamps" and more.
Sadly he isn't the only one to have passed on though as screen actress Anita Ekberg also died over the weekend at the age...
- 1/11/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
It’s not every actor that can claim to have seared themselves a place in the cinematic pantheon with just one stroll through a fountain, but Anita Ekberg certainly fits that bill. The Swedish star, who most famously graced the screen in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, has died at the age of 83.Born in Malmo, Sweden in 1931, Ekberg came from a large family, with seven siblings, and enjoyed close relationships with her parents. At the age of 20, she won the Miss Sweden title, parlaying that into a chance at the Miss Universe crown. She didn’t win, but Universal Pictures immediately snapped her up into a contract, kicking off a film career with a variety of small and uncredited parts, but moving her up the roster with a role as Helene Kuragina in 1956’s adaptation of War And Peace.From there, she starred in films such as Pickup Alley,...
- 1/11/2015
- EmpireOnline
Composer and pianist whose work included film scores, opera and jazz cabaret
The composer Richard Rodney Bennett, who has died in New York aged 76, pursued multiple musical lives with extraordinary success. He was one of the more distinguished soundtrack composers of his era, having contributed to some 50 films and winning Oscar nominations for his work on Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).
But it scarcely seemed credible that this knack for writing for a mainstream audience in a melodic, romantic style co-existed with his mastery of serialism and 12-tone techniques. From 1957 to 1959, Bennett was a scholarship student with Pierre Boulez in Paris and soaked up the latter's total serialism techniques as well as his infatuation with the German avant garde. He also attended the summer schools at Darmstadt, the mecca for diehard atonalists.
His tremendous facility as a pianist would prompt the...
The composer Richard Rodney Bennett, who has died in New York aged 76, pursued multiple musical lives with extraordinary success. He was one of the more distinguished soundtrack composers of his era, having contributed to some 50 films and winning Oscar nominations for his work on Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) and Murder on the Orient Express (1974).
But it scarcely seemed credible that this knack for writing for a mainstream audience in a melodic, romantic style co-existed with his mastery of serialism and 12-tone techniques. From 1957 to 1959, Bennett was a scholarship student with Pierre Boulez in Paris and soaked up the latter's total serialism techniques as well as his infatuation with the German avant garde. He also attended the summer schools at Darmstadt, the mecca for diehard atonalists.
His tremendous facility as a pianist would prompt the...
- 12/28/2012
- by Adam Sweeting
- The Guardian - Film News
Production designer behind the deadly gadgets used by James Bond – and his foes
The production designer Syd Cain, who has died aged 93, was one of many behind-the-scenes professionals elevated to something like prominence by the worldwide interest in the James Bond films. An industry veteran who began work in British cinema as a draughtsman in 1947, contributing to the look of the gothic melodrama Uncle Silas, Cain is credited on a range of film and television projects, but remains best known for his work in various design capacities on the 007 series, from Dr No in 1962 to GoldenEye in 1995.
Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Cain served in the armed forces in the second world war, surviving a plane crash and recovering from a broken back. Working at Denham Studios in Buckinghamshire in the 1940s and 50s, he moved up from uncredited draughtsman (on Adam and Evelyne, The Interrupted Journey, You Know What Sailors Are...
The production designer Syd Cain, who has died aged 93, was one of many behind-the-scenes professionals elevated to something like prominence by the worldwide interest in the James Bond films. An industry veteran who began work in British cinema as a draughtsman in 1947, contributing to the look of the gothic melodrama Uncle Silas, Cain is credited on a range of film and television projects, but remains best known for his work in various design capacities on the 007 series, from Dr No in 1962 to GoldenEye in 1995.
Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Cain served in the armed forces in the second world war, surviving a plane crash and recovering from a broken back. Working at Denham Studios in Buckinghamshire in the 1940s and 50s, he moved up from uncredited draughtsman (on Adam and Evelyne, The Interrupted Journey, You Know What Sailors Are...
- 12/2/2011
- by Kim Newman
- The Guardian - Film News
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