Oscar-Winning Director Jonathan Demme Dies

Ken Schwartz

Oscar-winning U.S. film director Jonathan Demme, who terrified audiences and also made them laugh, died Wednesday in New York at 73.

His family said Demme suffered from cancer of the esophagus.

Demme may be considered one of the most eclectic directors in Hollywood history — directing rousing comedies, horror, concert films and emotional dramas.

His 1991 thriller Silence of the Lambs featured Anthony Hopkins as a cannibalistic murderer with a terrifying mask who is restrained in a cage.

The film and Demme's close-ups of the criminal haunted audiences and won five Oscars, including one for Demme.

He followed it in 1993 with Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks as a lawyer dying from AIDS. The film is considered to be a landmark in the way gays are portrayed and the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic.

Critics called Demme's 1984 concert film starring the Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense, one of the greatest rock films ever made, using techniques that have set the standard for rock documentaries.

Demme also was heavily involved in the Florida-based charity Americans for Immigrant Justice, and his family has requested that fans honor Demme by making contributions to the fund.

(Photo: Demme at the 2015 Montclair Film Festival. Courtesy of Dan D'Errico / Montclair Film Festival.)

Hollywood Director Tony Scott Dies

Authorities in Los Angeles say movie director Tony Scott, director of such Hollywood blockbusters as Top Gun, Days of Thunder and Beverly Hills Cop II, has died after jumping from a Los Angeles County Bridge.

An officer with the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said the 68-year-old Scott's death Sunday is being investigated as a suicide.

Police say several people called emergency services shortly after midday Sunday to report that someone had jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles.

A dive team with Los Angeles Port Police pulled the body from the murky water several hours later, Nordquist said. Scott's body was taken to a dock in Wilmington and turned over to the county coroner's office. 

The British-born Scott was producer and director Ridley Scott's brother. Ridley Scott's Prometheus was a summer blockbuster.

Scott frequently worked with Denzel Washington, most recently on the runaway train drama Unstoppable.

Scott and Washington collaborated on four other films: Man on Fire, Deja Vu, and The Taking of Pelham 123.

Other Scott films include True Romance and Crimson Tide. Scott was married to actress Donna Scott. They have twin sons.

Humorist, Screenwriter Nora Ephron Dies at 71

American writer Nora Ephron, who wrote the screenplays for popular romantic comedies along with a series of memorable humorous essays, has died in New York City at the age of 71.

Her family says Ephron passed away Tuesday after a battle with leukemia.

The daughter of Hollywood screenwriters, Ephron gained fame for such romantic comedies as “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” which earned her Academy Award nominations. She also wrote and directed several movies, including “You've Got Mail” and the 2009 comedy-drama “Julie and Julia.”

Ephron was also nominated for an Academy Award for her first screenplay, the 1983 drama Silkwood, which starred Meryl Streep in the true story about a whistleblower in a plutonium plant.

She began her writing career in the early 1960s as a reporter for The New York Post newspaper before turning her attention to humorous essays, many of them focusing on her personal life. Her 1983 novel Heartburn chronicled her failed marriage to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, who helped break the Watergate scandal. Ephron wrote the screenplay for the 1986 film adaptation of the book.

(Photo by David Shankbone: Nora Ephron at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, New York City)

Pioneering Radio Writer Norman Corwin Dies at 101

Norman Corwin with his cherished typewriter, at his Wellworth Ave., Los Angeles apartment in February 1973. (Photo by James Duncan a.k.a. Arrowcatcher)

Writer Norman Corwin, who was a major force in American broadcasting for more than 70 years, has died at age 101.

Corwin went to work for CBS radio in the 1930s, where his plays, essays, and documentaries became must-hear listening for tens of millions of Americans. Hollywood stars who could command thousands of dollars for a single movie, were glad to perform with Corwin for little pay.

His works include “On a Note of Triumph,” broadcast the night Nazi Germany surrendered in World War II, and “We Hold These Truths,” marking the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

His post-war radio series, “One World Flight,” featured interviews with ordinary citizens and leaders in Europe and Asia as they struggled to emerge from the devastation of war.

Corwin later worked for United Nations radio and was nominated for an Academy Award for writing the 1956 film “Lust for Life,” a biography of painter Vincent Van Gogh.

He also authored a series of plays for television and was still writing radio dramas as late as 2001. Corwin was teaching at the University of Southern California at the time of his death.

Final Exits, 1-7 September 2011

George Kuchar on set during production of his 2008 film, "Orphans of the Cosmos", 18 April 2008. Photo: Calliopemichael.

Obituaries for 1-7 September 2011

1
* Jan Lammers, 84, Dutch Olympic athlete (1948). (Dutch)
* Liu Huang A-tao, 90, Taiwanese activist, first comfort woman to sue Japan for compensation.
* Abdulrahman al-Nuaimi, 67, Bahraini opposition leader, founder of the PFLB and the NDA.
* Alexandru Pesamosca, 81, Romanian surgeon and pediatrician, cardiac arrest. (Romanian)
* Kamal Salibi, 82, Lebanese historian.

2
* Edgar Benson, 88, Canadian politician and diplomat.
* Felipe Camiroaga, 44, Chilean television presenter, plane crash.
* Takis Chrisoulis, 65, Greek playwright and actor. (Greek)
* Tony Corsari, 84, Belgian television host, cancer. (Dutch)
* Samuel Flores Borrego, Mexican drug cartel leader, shot.
* Allan Hubbard, 83, New Zealand businessman, car accident.
* Shrinivas Khale, 85, Indian composer.
* José María Montes, 91, Argentine Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Chascomús (1983–1996).
* Jehangir Sabavala, 89, Indian artist.
* Bernard William Smith, 94, Australian art historian and critic.
* Ichiro Yoshikuni, 95, Japanese baseball commissioner. (Japanese)
* Alberto Zalamea, 82, Colombian journalist and politician, Ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire, Venezuela and Italy.

3
* Julio Casas Regueiro, 75, Cuban politician, Vice President and Defense Minister (since 2008), heart attack.
* Andrzej Maria Deskur, 87, Polish Roman Catholic cardinal.
* Don Fambrough, 88, American football player and head coach (University of Kansas), injuries from a fall.
* Finn Helgesen, 92, Norwegian Olympic gold medal-winning (1948) speed skater. (Norwegian)
* John Hoover, 91, American artist.
* Sándor Képíró, 97, Hungarian World War II veteran acquitted of Nazi war crimes.
* Sumant Misra, 88, Indian tennis player.

4
* A Produce, 59, American musician.
* Lalla Aicha, 81, Moroccan princess, first female Arab ambassador, Ambassador to United Kingdom (1965–1969); Greece (1969–1970); Italy (1970–1973).
* Victor Bussie, 92, American labor activist, president of Louisiana AFL–CIO.
* Hugh Fox, 79, American poet and novelist.
* Hilde Heltberg, 51, Norwegian musician, cancer. (Norwegian)
* Bill Kunkel, 61, American video game designer and magazine editor, heart attack.
* Jag Mundhra, 62, Indian film director (Bawandar).
* León Rozitchner, 87, Argentine philosopher. (Spanish)
* Lee Roy Selmon, 56, American Hall of Fame football player (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), stroke.
* Dana Wilson, 28, New Zealand rugby league player, car accident.

5
* Charles S. Dubin, 92, American film and television director (Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, M*A*S*H), natural causes.
* Salvatore Licitra, 43, Italian tenor, injuries from a motor scooter accident.
* Georgios-Alexandros Magakis, 89, Greek professor of law and politician, Minister of Justice (1982–1986). (Greek)
* Vann Nath, 66, Cambodian painter.
* Bobby Rhine, 35, American soccer player (FC Dallas), heart attack.
* Peter Thuruthikonam, 82, Indian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Vijayapuram (1988–2006), heart attack.

6
* Shigeri Akabane, 70, Japanese professional wrestler, heart attack.
* Hans Apel, 79, German politician, Finance Minister (1974–1978) and Defence Minister (1978–1982). (German)
* Dan David, 82, Romanian-born Israeli businessman and philanthropist, brain hemorrhage.
* Archduke Felix of Austria, 95, Austrian royal, last surviving child of Charles I of Austria. (German)
* Michael S. Hart, 64, American author, founder of Project Gutenberg.
* George Kuchar, 69, American film director.
* Janusz Morgenstern, 88, Polish filmmaker.
* Malcolm Prine, 83, American baseball executive (Pittsburgh Pirates), lung cancer.
* Wardell Quezergue, 81, American music arranger, producer and bandleader, heart failure.
* Donald L. Taffner, 80, American television producer and distributor.

7
* Gabriel Bullet, 90, Swiss Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg (1970–1993). (German)
* Jang Hyo-Jo, 55, South Korean baseball player (Samsung Lions, Lotte Giants), liver cancer.
* Harold Mair, 92, Australian politician.
* Eddie Marshall, 73, American jazz drummer.
* Gabriel Valdés, 92, Chilean politician. (Spanish)
* Hiroe Yuki, 62, Japanese badminton player. (Japanese)
* Notable ice hockey players and coaches among the 43 killed in the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash:
Vitali Anikienko, 24, Ukrainian
Mikhail Balandin, 31, Russian
Gennady Churilov, 24, Russian
Pavol Demitra, 36, Slovakian
Robert Dietrich, 25, German
Marat Kalimulin, 23, Russian
Alexander Kalyanin, 23, Russian
Alexander Karpovtsev, 41, Russian
Andrei Kiryukhin, 24, Russian
Nikita Klyukin, 21, Russian
Igor Korolev, 41, Russian
Stefan Liv, 30, Swedish
Jan Marek, 31, Czech
Brad McCrimmon, 52, Canadian
Sergei Ostapchuk, 21, Belarusian
Karel Rachůnek, 32, Czech
Ruslan Salei, 36, Belarusian
Maxim Shuvalov, 18, Russian
Kārlis Skrastiņš, 37, Latvian
Pavel Snurnitsyn, 19, Russian
Daniil Sobchenko, 20, Russian
Ivan Tkachenko, 31, Russian
Pavel Trakhanov, 33, Russian
Yuri Urychev, 20, Russian
Josef Vašíček, 30, Czech
Alexander Vasyunov, 23, Russian
Alexander Vyukhin, 38, Ukrainian
Artem Yarchuk, 21, Russian

Bollywood Actor Kapoor Dead at 79

Indian actor Shammi Kapoor has died. He was 79.

Kapoor is best known as the gyrating, swivel-hipped, handsome actor who helped to transform Bollywood's song and dance sequences into a more modern style.

His bio on his fan website says his “special way” with songs was his “most readily identifiable trademark.”

He made his film debut in 1953 and became the leading Bollywood heart-throb of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He continued acting long after his “heart-throb” days were finished.

Kapoor was born into an acting dynasty. His father was a well-known theater personality and his brothers were also successful actors.

Shammi Kapoor died from renal failure Sunday.

(Photo of Shamsher Raj Kapoor, courtesy of Hasnainsikandar.)