Thompson on Hollywood

Obit: 'Night Moves' Screenwriter Alan Sharp, Memorial Planned

News

I had the pleasure of talking by phone to novelist/screenwriter Alan Sharp while preparing the production notes for the 1983 Sam Peckinpah movie "The Osterman Weekend," which was to be the director's last. While that film did not mark either man's finest hour, Sharp was one of Hollywood's most respected screenwriters; he specialized in muscular western noir. He died last weekend at the age of 78 after a long illness.

By Anne Thompson
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February 13, 2013 3:40 PM
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RIP Film Critic Elliott Stein

News

When I worked at my first journalism gig as associate editor at Film Comment Magazine back in the 80s, Elliott Stein was one of my favorite regular contributors. He was erudite about world cinema, an omnivorous global cinephile and historian who knew more about Asian cinema than anyone I knew.

By Anne Thompson
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November 9, 2012 8:28 PM
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RIP PR Pioneer Lois Smith: Tributes from Kingsley, Siegal, O'Donnell

News

Lois Smith, who died last weekend from complications due to a fall, helped to define modern PR. Back in 1971, she founded, along with Pat Kingsley (who handled Tom Cruise for years), New York's Pickwick Public Relations, and went on to pursue production at Marble Arch and United Artists before returning to her first love.

By Anne Thompson
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October 9, 2012 1:44 PM
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The Web Remembers Andy Williams (1927-2012), 'Moon River' Crooner, Grammy & Emmy Winner

News

'60s crooner and TV host Andy Williams died Tuesday night after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer. A major music star contemporary with Elvis and Sinatra, Williams had 18 gold records, with three going platinum, and was nominated for five Grammys, along with hosting the show a number of times. He specialized in movie tunes, such as "Love Story," "Days of Wine and Roses" and, most famously, "Moon River." Below, a roundup of obit highlights and video.

By Beth Hanna
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September 26, 2012 1:47 PM
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RIP Director Tony Scott

News

RIP "Top Gun" director Tony Scott, who jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro to his death around 12:30 PM on Sunday. The police identified the body they pulled from the water as the 68-year-old British filmmaker ("Unstoppable," "The Taking of Pelham 123"). He left suicide notes in his black Prius parked on the eastbound lane of the bridge, the U.S. Coast Guard told The Daily Breeze.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2012 12:29 PM
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Obit: Publicist Dale Olson Repped the Stars, from MacLaine to Hudson

News

Dale Olson, the veteran Hollywood publicist who convinced Rock Hudson to admit that he was dying of AIDS, died Thursday, August 9 at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer. Because the first victims of AIDS were homosexuals, AIDS was an unmentionable disease in 1985 when Olson persuaded the actor to go public and use his misfortune to educate people.

By Aljean Harmetz
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August 10, 2012 5:40 PM
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Obit: New York Film Critic Judith Crist

News

Judith Crist, the tough, witty, and often caustic film critic who combined a passionate love for movies with an equally passionate distaste for movie rubbish, died Tuesday, August 7 at the age of 90. According to her son, Steven Crist, she died at her Manhattan home after a long illness. Director Billy Wilder once remarked that inviting Crist to review one of your films was “like asking the Boston Strangler for a neck massage.” And Wilder was one of her favorites. She was arguably the most powerful film critic of her era because of her two-prong status as main reviewer at both the New York Herald Tribune and NBC’s “Today” show.

By Aljean Harmetz
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August 7, 2012 9:06 PM
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Obit: 'Chorus Line' Composer Marvin Hamlisch Wrote for Film, Theater and TV --and Streisand

News

Marvin Hamlisch, a composer who moved effortlessly from movies to musical theatre to television, winning Grammys, Emmys, Oscars and a Tony award, died unexpectedly on Monday, August 6, at the age of 68 after a brief illness. Hamlisch and Richard Rodgers are the only two composers who have won all of those awards as well as a Pulitzer Prize. As the composer of “A Chorus Line,” Hamlisch shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976.

By Aljean Harmetz
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August 7, 2012 7:57 PM
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Remembering Gore Vidal, Prolific Author-Screenwriter-Playwright and First-Rate Feuder (VIDEO)

Features

Gore Vidal, one of America's most accomplished author-essayist-playwright-screenwriters and famous for his feuds with other great thinkers, died July 31 from pneumonia at age 86. Below, a roundup from the web.

By Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
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August 1, 2012 1:07 PM
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One Day with Chris Marker, Film Essayist and Influencer

Features

One day, sometime deep in the last millennium, I had the good fortune to be on the receiving end of a phone call from the filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin telling me not to make any plans for the next day, and if I had plans, to cancel them. Why, I asked. Because, he said, we’re going to visit Chris Marker. That was all he needed to say.