VIEWS FROM A BROAD

Legendary Actor James Garner Dead at 86

He had a good long life....Rest in Peace.

Actor James Garner, whose genial charm and sly humor made him a Hollywood fixture for more than 50 years, has died at 86.

The Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press reported his death, citing Los Angeles Police.

Tall and handsome, Garner had the leading-man looks that led to roles in big-screen dramas ranging from 1958's Darby's Rangers to 1963's The Great Escape. But his flair for light comedy earned him several starring film roles, and extended to the small screen as well, with series hits Maverick and The Rockford Files.

"I'm a Spencer Tracy-type actor," Garner once said. "His idea was to be on time, know your words, hit your marks and tell the truth. Most every actor tries to make it something it isn't [or] looks for the easy way out. I don't think acting is that difficult if you can put yourself aside and do what the writer wrote."

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Actor/Director/Writer Harold Ramis Dead at 69

Awwww....the world is a little less funny today.

Harold Ramis was one of Hollywood’s most successful comedy filmmakers when he moved his family from Los Angeles back to the Chicago area in 1996. His career was still thriving, with "Groundhog Day" acquiring almost instant classic status upon its 1993 release and 1984's "Ghostbusters" ranking among the highest-grossing comedies of all time, but the writer-director wanted to return to the city where he’d launched his career as a Second City performer.

"There's a pride in what I do that other people share because I'm local, which in L.A. is meaningless; no one's local," Ramis said upon the launch of the first movie he directed after his move, the 1999 mobster-in-therapy comedy "Analyze This," another hit. "It's a good thing. I feel like I represent the city in a certain way."

Ramis, a longtime North Shore resident, was surrounded by family when he died at 12:53 a.m. from complications of autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease that involves swelling of the blood vessels, his wife Erica Mann Ramis said. He was 69.

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Comedy ICON Sid Caesar Dead at 91

Another LEGEND gone....Rest in Peace.

Sid Caesar, a television pioneer who reigned as the king of live TV sketch comedy in the 1950s with his inspired brand of mimicry, pantomime and satire on the classic comedy-variety series “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour,” died Wednesday. He was 91.

Caesar died at his home in Beverly Hills after a brief illness, according to his biographer and friend Eddy Friedfeld.

A two-time Emmy Award-winning performer during his TV heyday in the `50s, Caesar has been hailed as “one of the great TV clowns,” “one of television’s most inventive performers” and “a genius at making people laugh.”

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Oscar Winning Actress Joan Fontaine Dead at Age 96

She lived a good long life.

Joan Fontaine, the polished actress who achieved stardom in the early 1940s with memorable performances in the Alfred Hitchcock films Suspicion — for which she earned the best actress Oscar over her bitter rival, sister Olivia de Havilland — and Rebecca, has died. She was 96.

The Hollywood Reporter awards analyst Scott Feinberg spoke with Fontaine's assistant, Susan Pfeiffer, who confirmed the actress' death of natural causes Sunday at her home in Carmel, Calif.

 

MORE FROM THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Broadcaster Sir David Frost Dead at 74

Awwww.....

LONDON  — Veteran British journalist and broadcaster David Frost, who won fame around the world for his TV interviews with former President Richard Nixon, has died, his family told the BBC. He was 74.

Frost died of a suspected heart attack Saturday night aboard the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship, where he was due to give a speech, the family said. The cruise company Cunard said its vessel left the English port of Southampton on Saturday for a 10-day cruise in the Mediterranean.

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(Posted by Schmooze Correspondent Mary Wallace)