With the notable exception of the beloved Carrie Fisher, many of the iconic lead actors in the "Star Wars" saga are still with us. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman are all going strong, and so are the stars of the space opera's most recent episodes. Some of the actors from the original film who were already veterans at the time, like Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, died some years ago, but both enjoyed long lives beyond the average age.
Sadly, this cannot be said of numerous other actors involved in the big screen franchise and its recent TV spin-offs. Performers have died in their 70s, 60s, and 50s, many of them leaving us wishing we could have seen more years of great performances from them. Whether they had spotlight roles or were hidden behind alien masks, here are the "Star Wars" actors we lost too soon.
Sadly, this cannot be said of numerous other actors involved in the big screen franchise and its recent TV spin-offs. Performers have died in their 70s, 60s, and 50s, many of them leaving us wishing we could have seen more years of great performances from them. Whether they had spotlight roles or were hidden behind alien masks, here are the "Star Wars" actors we lost too soon.
- 9/2/2023
- by Jack Hawkins
- Slash Film
On 27th February 2023, Nucleus Films will release the shocking 1970s horror film Dark Places on Blu-ray.
There’S More Than Death Waiting For You In Dark Places
Legendary British stars Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom get together in a grisly tale of hidden loot in a haunted house.
Dr Ian Mandeville and his sister Sarah mean to get their hands on the £200,000 stashed in the derelict Marr’s Grove – only to find that Edward Foster, a stranger to the district, has recently inherited the place. As Edward rapidly succumbs to the influence of the mansion’s long-dead owners, madness and bloody murder ensue…
Directed by Don Sharp, this long-awaited UK Blu-ray premiere has been remastered from original vault elements and is packed with bonus features.
Also starring Jane Birkin, Robert Hardy and Jean Marsh…
Dare you enter Marr’s Grove and encounter the evil lurking within?
Special Features:...
There’S More Than Death Waiting For You In Dark Places
Legendary British stars Christopher Lee, Joan Collins and Herbert Lom get together in a grisly tale of hidden loot in a haunted house.
Dr Ian Mandeville and his sister Sarah mean to get their hands on the £200,000 stashed in the derelict Marr’s Grove – only to find that Edward Foster, a stranger to the district, has recently inherited the place. As Edward rapidly succumbs to the influence of the mansion’s long-dead owners, madness and bloody murder ensue…
Directed by Don Sharp, this long-awaited UK Blu-ray premiere has been remastered from original vault elements and is packed with bonus features.
Also starring Jane Birkin, Robert Hardy and Jean Marsh…
Dare you enter Marr’s Grove and encounter the evil lurking within?
Special Features:...
- 2/18/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
The Oscars don’t always get it right. There have been many notable injustices since the first ceremony took place in 1929, but surely none more surprising than the absence of Alfred Hitchcock’s name from the list of winners.
The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.
However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.
20. Blackmail (1929)
A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...
The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.
However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.
20. Blackmail (1929)
A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...
- 8/26/2022
- by Graeme Ross
- The Independent - Film
The Oscars don’t always get it right. There have been many notable injustices since the first ceremony took place in 1929, but surely none more surprising than the absence of Alfred Hitchcock’s name from the list of winners.
The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.
However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.
20. Blackmail (1929)
A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...
The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.
However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.
20. Blackmail (1929)
A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...
- 8/26/2022
- by Graeme Ross
- The Independent - Film
The Oscars don’t always get it right. There have been many notable injustices since the first ceremony took place in 1929, but surely none more surprising than the absence of Alfred Hitchcock’s name from the list of winners.
The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.
However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.
20. Blackmail (1929)
A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...
The man responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, and who committed many of cinema’s most deathless images to celluloid, never won an Academy Award despite being nominated for best director on five occasions: Rebecca in 1940, Lifeboat in 1944, Spellbound in 1945, Rear Window in 1954 and Psycho in 1960.
However, these five movies represent just a small percentage of Hitchcock’s magnificent oeuvre of 52 films. To counteract this injustice, here is my selection of his 20 greatest.
20. Blackmail (1929)
A young woman kills a man who tries to rape her and then finds herself caught between the investigating policeman, who happens to be her fiance, and a blackmailer. Generally considered to be the first British talkie,...
- 8/26/2022
- by Graeme Ross
- The Independent - Film
Ronald Pickup, who appeared in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel among more than 150 film, TV and stage credits spanning a half-century, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 80. His agent confirmed the news to the BBC today.
Pickup played Norman Cousins in John Madden’s 2011 romantic dramedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, sharing a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel and others. He returned for 2015’s The Second Best Exotic Hotel.
The actor also recurred as the Archbishop of Canterbury in the first season of Netflix’s hit drama The Crown. He also played Neville Chamberlain in 2017’s Darkest Hour, a Best Picture Oscar nominee that also earned Gary Oldman a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as Winston Churchill.
Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve Lost In 2021 – Photo Gallery
Born on June 7, 1940, in Chester,...
Pickup played Norman Cousins in John Madden’s 2011 romantic dramedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, sharing a SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel and others. He returned for 2015’s The Second Best Exotic Hotel.
The actor also recurred as the Archbishop of Canterbury in the first season of Netflix’s hit drama The Crown. He also played Neville Chamberlain in 2017’s Darkest Hour, a Best Picture Oscar nominee that also earned Gary Oldman a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as Winston Churchill.
Showbiz & Media Figures We’ve Lost In 2021 – Photo Gallery
Born on June 7, 1940, in Chester,...
- 2/26/2021
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Hammer Horror director Don Sharp has died, aged 90.
The Australia-born moviemaker passed away in Cornwall, England earlier this month, according to Variety. No other details of his death had been released as WENN went to press.
Sharp was best known for being brought in to revive the flagging Hammer Film studio in Britain in the 1960s after the company suffered a drop in popularity. He went on to direct numerous horror pictures for the firm including The Kiss of the Vampire, The Devil-Ship Pirates and Rasputin: The Mad Monk.
His other film work outside of Hammer included directing The Face of Fu Manchu and The Brides of Fu Manchu with Sir Christopher Lee. He was also behind the 1978 remake of The Thirty Nine Steps, starring Robert Powell, a 1974 film version of TV drama Callan with Edward Woodward, and 1979's Bear Island with Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave.
The Australia-born moviemaker passed away in Cornwall, England earlier this month, according to Variety. No other details of his death had been released as WENN went to press.
Sharp was best known for being brought in to revive the flagging Hammer Film studio in Britain in the 1960s after the company suffered a drop in popularity. He went on to direct numerous horror pictures for the firm including The Kiss of the Vampire, The Devil-Ship Pirates and Rasputin: The Mad Monk.
His other film work outside of Hammer included directing The Face of Fu Manchu and The Brides of Fu Manchu with Sir Christopher Lee. He was also behind the 1978 remake of The Thirty Nine Steps, starring Robert Powell, a 1974 film version of TV drama Callan with Edward Woodward, and 1979's Bear Island with Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave.
- 12/27/2011
- WENN
According to various online sources, Tasmanian-born director Don Sharp has died. He was 89.
A former small-time actor (The Planter's Wife, The Cruel Sea), Sharp (born April 19, 1922, in Hobart) is best remembered for several low-budget thrillers he directed in the 1960s, such as Hammer's The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), the sci-fier Curse of the Fly (1965), and the The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), starring Christopher Lee as the East Asian fiend.
Sharp's other notable efforts include The Death Wheelers / Psychomania (1973), about a youth gang terrorizing a small town; the Ira drama Hennessy (1975), with A-listers Rod Steiger and Lee Remick; The Thirty Nine Steps, an underrated remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 classic starring Robert Powell in Robert Donat's old man-on-the-run role; and the slow-moving adventure drama Bear Island, featuring Vanessa Redgrave and Donald Sutherland.
Sharp also worked on British television, directing several episodes from The Avengers. Other notable television efforts were a...
A former small-time actor (The Planter's Wife, The Cruel Sea), Sharp (born April 19, 1922, in Hobart) is best remembered for several low-budget thrillers he directed in the 1960s, such as Hammer's The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), the sci-fier Curse of the Fly (1965), and the The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966), starring Christopher Lee as the East Asian fiend.
Sharp's other notable efforts include The Death Wheelers / Psychomania (1973), about a youth gang terrorizing a small town; the Ira drama Hennessy (1975), with A-listers Rod Steiger and Lee Remick; The Thirty Nine Steps, an underrated remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 classic starring Robert Powell in Robert Donat's old man-on-the-run role; and the slow-moving adventure drama Bear Island, featuring Vanessa Redgrave and Donald Sutherland.
Sharp also worked on British television, directing several episodes from The Avengers. Other notable television efforts were a...
- 12/19/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Having recently returned from London I was struck by the fact that three new posters on the main page of iTunes Trailers last week all featured that evergreen symbol of Britishness, Big Ben.
Big Ben, or, to be more precise, the Clock Tower that houses the Great Bell that was nicknamed Big Ben, has long been used as a shorthand cliché in movie posters to announce that a film is set in London, or, even more lazily, in England. Usually, as in many of the examples below, it is snuck into the background as a simple tip of the hat. However, two new posters—for The Iron Lady and Garbo: The Spy—feature it much more prominently. Of course, if ever a film had reason to feature of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, it would be a biopic of a British Prime Minister. But its useage in...
Big Ben, or, to be more precise, the Clock Tower that houses the Great Bell that was nicknamed Big Ben, has long been used as a shorthand cliché in movie posters to announce that a film is set in London, or, even more lazily, in England. Usually, as in many of the examples below, it is snuck into the background as a simple tip of the hat. However, two new posters—for The Iron Lady and Garbo: The Spy—feature it much more prominently. Of course, if ever a film had reason to feature of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, it would be a biopic of a British Prime Minister. But its useage in...
- 11/21/2011
- MUBI
British character actor Donald Pickering was featured in three serials of Doctor Who. He guest-starred as Eyesen in The Keys to Marinus in 1964 with William Hartnell as the Doctor, was Captain Blade in The Faceless Ones in 1967 with Patrick Troughton, and was Beyus in Time and the Rani in 1987 with Sylvester McCoy.
Pickering was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, on November 15, 1933. He began his career on stage in the early 1950s, and was performing on television later in the decade. He appeared in episodes of such series as The Saint, The Avengers, The Champions, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Out of the Unknown, The Return of the Saint, and Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.
He was featured in the small role of a TV announcer in Francoise Truffaut’s 1966 film adaptation of the Ray Bradbury sci-fi classic Fahrenheit 451 (1966) as TV Announcer, and appeared in the 1978 remake of the thriller The Thirty Nine Steps.
Pickering was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, on November 15, 1933. He began his career on stage in the early 1950s, and was performing on television later in the decade. He appeared in episodes of such series as The Saint, The Avengers, The Champions, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Out of the Unknown, The Return of the Saint, and Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected.
He was featured in the small role of a TV announcer in Francoise Truffaut’s 1966 film adaptation of the Ray Bradbury sci-fi classic Fahrenheit 451 (1966) as TV Announcer, and appeared in the 1978 remake of the thriller The Thirty Nine Steps.
- 12/31/2009
- by Harris Lentz
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
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