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Posted: 17-06-2003 02:22 Post subject: Blacula Dead!

William Marshall, the dignified actor who played Blacula, passed away this weekend. He played the character in both Blacula and Scream Blacula, Scream. He also played the Exorcist in the William Girdler trash epic Abby.

Many younger folks might remember him as one of the Kings of Cartoon on Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

Here's the listing from Yahoo:

Stage, TV and screen actor William Marshal dies at 78

LOS ANGELES - Actor William Marshall, who played a variety of roles, from Shakespeare's "Othello" on stage, to "Blacula" in the camp movie classic, has died. He was 78.

Marshall, who suffered in recent years from Alzheimer's disease, died Wednesday in a Los Angeles rest home.

The actor appeared in several dozen films and in popular television series such as "Star Trek" in the 1960s and "The Jeffersons" in the 1980s. But he was in love with theater and taught acting workshops on college campuses and at the Mufandi Institute in Watts. He was director of the institute in the 1960s.

He also brought a number of prominent African American figures to the stage.

He portrayed singer Paul Robeson and the statesman Frederick Douglass, a role he spent 15 years researching. He eventually played the part of the famed abolitionist on television.

Marshall was born in Gary, Ind., and studied acting at the Actors Studio and the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City after spending several years as an art student at New York University.

Douglass was not the only role that Marshall reprised. He played the Moorish king in "Othello" in Europe and the United States. The London Sunday Times once hailed him as "the best Othello of our time."

Marshall played a different kind of character in the 1972 movie, "Blacula" and its sequel, "Scream, Blacula, Scream!", but he brought the same dignity to the title role of the African prince.

Originally conceived as a dimwitted count, Marshall modeled the character on the original Count Dracula, the tormented Eastern European royal in Bram Stoker's 19th century novel.

Marshall is survived by three sons and one daughter. His life partner of 42 years, Sylvia Jarrico, said a memorial service will be held this summer.

Posted: 17-06-2003 08:02 Post subject:

One of these days, I'll get a chance to see Blacula! Sad

Posted: 17-06-2003 14:50 Post subject:

Here is a great pix of him in makeup. I found it here:

http://www.blaxploitation.com/index.html

Posted: 18-06-2003 16:34 Post subject:

Oh Baby (Barry White voice)
love to see that movie,
mbye theyll show on Channel 4 now he's dead.
By Blacula By

Posted: 18-06-2003 17:51 Post subject:

I saw 'Blacula' as the support to 'Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (Hammer meets Sir Run Run Shaw: Dracula plus kung-fu vs van Helsing), in dodgy fleapit in Rusholme, Manchester, in the 70s, truly they don't make 'em like that any more (or perhaps they go direct to video).

Posted: 24-11-2003 19:27 Post subject:

Snowflake the albino gorilla dies Sad

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/11/24/albino.gorilla.death.ap/

Posted: 04-12-2003 20:52 Post subject:

David Hemmings dies.

Blow-Up
Barbarella
Gladiator
Last Orders
Gangs of New York
Profondo Rosso
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Directed and produced the A-Team, Quantum Leap and Airwolf.

Sad

Posted: 04-12-2003 21:03 Post subject:

Posted: 04-12-2003 21:40 Post subject:

And had the most remarkable eyebrows .......

Posted: 31-12-2003 00:48 Post subject:

Apparently Don Lawrence is dead.

Anybody who's old enough to remember ''The Trigan Empire' from the 1960's and 70's comic 'Look and Learn', or has come across, 'Storm', will have seen the work of this artist.

He was 75.

Posted: 31-12-2003 00:51 Post subject:

Posted: 31-12-2003 02:30 Post subject:

Posted: 24-05-2004 12:31 Post subject: Sad News

I don't know if this is relevent to anyone else here, but Cinescape have just announced the sad news that Richard Biggs (Dr Franklin from Babylon 5) has passed away at the age of 43.

http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=News&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=272956&obj_id=41603

This is indeed sad news. Especially due to the iminent announcement from Joe about the next B5 project.

Condolancies go out to all of Richards friends and family.

Regards

MF

Posted: 09-06-2004 11:56 Post subject: Quorthon Dies

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=23453

'Blob' director, from Malvern, dies in accident
By Lini S. Kadaba

Irvin Shortess "Shorty" Yeaworth Jr., who made more than 400 films on religious and social topics during his career but was perhaps best known for the 1958 sci-fi cult classic The Blob, died Monday in a car accident in Jordan, where he was working on yet another dream. The Malvern resident was 78. Mr. Yeaworth, known to all as Shorty from his middle name, was traveling from Aqaba to Amman when his vehicle went off the road near Petra.

"We think he fell asleep," Jean Bruce Yeaworth, his wife of 59 years, said yesterday about the accident.He was nearing the end of several years of work to build a major entertainment complex in Jordan called Jordanian Experience at the Aqaba Gateway. It was described by his family as a state-of-the-art magic carpet flight through Jordan, featuring a multimedia, multisensory look at the region's history, in the style of Disney World, with artifacts, eateries and even moving seats.

It was to open next month. Jean Yeaworth said the family would complete the project."He felt like he was waiting his whole life for this," his wife said. Deeply religious, Mr. Yeaworth, the son of a Presbyterian pastor, led tours to the Middle East over 25 years, hoping to bring attention to Biblical sites in Jordan, "the other side of the Jordan River," his wife said.

At the same time, he hoped to act as a "go-between" for Arabs and Israelis. "He felt there should be a center where they could get acquainted in a fun way," Jean Yeaworth said. The Jordan Times quoted colleagues at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, where he worked, as saying Mr. Yeaworth may have been an American, "but we all sensed one way or another that a part of him must be Jordanian."

His work in Jordan was surely one legacy. Another, no doubt, was The Blob. He had a love-hate relationship with the horror flick made in his backyard of Chester County. "He was not very proud of it," his wife said. Last week, the BlobFest tribute to the movie was held at the Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, where the scene of moviegoers screaming and fleeing the oozing, red menace was shot. Jean Yeaworth recalled her husband saying at the time that "The Blob is going to follow me to the grave."

"And it has," she added.

The movie was an experiment for the Good News Productions, which later became Valley Forge Films. Based in Yellow Springs, Chester County, the company focused on religious fare, hoping to make feature films. The studio complex was sold in the 1970s.

"Our goal, of course, was to make serious film for theatrical release," he told the Associated Press in 1995. "We knew we shouldn't make our first theatrical film on a subject that was precious to us, because we weren't that good." So Mr. Yeaworth agreed to direct The Molten Meteor, the working title for The Blob.

The experiment, of course, worked. Fans continue to celebrate the movie with Web sites, festivals and memorabilia. Mr. Yeaworth was born in Berlin, Germany, where his father was studying. He graduated from West Philadelphia High School in 1943 and studied history and education at Franklin & Marshall College, earning a bachelor's degree in 1947. He also studied at Temple University's School of Theology.

"All his life he was interested in entertainment," his wife said. "He really wanted to make films."He got his start in 1949, when he produced Youth on the March for television.

He was also an accomplished musician and composer, and led the choir at the Church of the Saviour in Wayne during the 1970s and 1980s and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He also headed the Wayne Concert Series for 22 years.

His deep Christian faith "was very much the lens through which he viewed life," said Pastor Tom Walsh of the Church of the Saviour. Mr. Yeaworth was a member of the Great Valley Presbyterian Church in Malvern and the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his five children, Katherine Whittle, Irvin S. 3d, David, Deborah Tobin and Jonathan; a brother, David; two sisters, Betty Jean Craig and Margaret Stoll; 11 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Church of the Saviour, 651 N. Wayne Ave., Wayne. Interment is private.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan's Purse or other mission organizations.

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