Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar-Winner Patricia Neal Dies at 84 After a Tragic Life

Patricia Neal has died at her home on Martha's Vineyard, of lung cancer. She was 84. Neal started out strong as a Hollywood leading lady, a beautiful and powerful character actress in such films as The Fountainhead, co-starring her lover Gary Cooper, The Day the Earth Stood Still, A Face in the Crowd and Hud, for which she won the best actress Oscar in 1964.

By Anne Thompson
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August 9, 2010 4:56 AM
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Dennis Hopper's Summer of Love: American Dreamer

In a double-bill with Easy Rider, the rarely seen 16 mm doc American Dreamer kicked off a month-long Dennis Hopper tribute at L.A.’s Silent Movie Theater, which coincides with a major retrospective of Hopper’s art at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Amy Dawes covered the films and the Q & A with co-director L.M. “Kit” Carson.

By Amy Dawes
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July 12, 2010 2:37 AM
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Wright, Working Title Take on Live-Action Little Mermaid

Here's welcome news you've all been waiting for: a live action adaptation of the Little Mermaid is in the works. The script is by Abi Morgan (Brick Lane) and director Joe Wright is partnered with Working Title (who also brought us Wright's Atonement and Pride and Prejudice). This is no Alice In Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella (just to name a few of the fairy tales in development or production). It's the original Hans Christian Anderson Little Mermaid - which is more darkly beautiful adult horror story than children's sing-a-long (a stage play adaptation at Little Angel Theatre Company, founded by Wright's father, was part of the inspiration). Wright may prove the right man to channel the spirit of Anderson's Little Mermaid without the happily-ever-after Disney ending that skews the story's legacy.

By Sophia Savage
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July 8, 2010 5:33 AM
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Legendary Hollywood Agent Ed Limato Dies at 73

Hollywood talent agent Ed Limato died Saturday at home in Beverly Hills. He was 73. He had been in and out of Cedar Sinai in recent months.

By Anne Thompson
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July 3, 2010 10:47 AM
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Film Scholar Brunette Dies at Taormina

Film academic and critic Peter Brunette died of a sudden heart attack at age 66 Wednesday morning at the Taormina Film Festival. I knew him well. We'd do round tables together at Cannes, share post-screening takes standing by our mail boxes at the Palais, or hang in line at Telluride. He was an infectious film enthusiast, and a canny film writer. He paid for his festival jaunts with freelance income. During the year he was a full-time professor at Wake Forest University, where he was director of their film studies program and published several film books, on Michael Haneke and Wong Kar Wai, among others. I will sorely miss him.

By Anne Thompson
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June 16, 2010 5:17 AM
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Cinematheque Francaise's Costa-Gavras and Toubiana Honor Hopper

The Cinematheque Francaise's Costa-Gavras and Serge Toubiana pay tribute to Dennis Hopper, who was the subject of a recent exhibition at the Cinematheque--which besides its archives and screening program, boasts a must-see cinema museum in Paris. DENNIS HOPPER, 1936-2010 News of Dennis Hopper’s death, at his home in Venice, California, reached us on Saturday, 29 May and deeply saddened us. He was 74. We had the immense good fortune to be his hosts at the Cinémathèque Française in October 2008, for the opening of an exhibition devoted entirely to him: “Dennis Hopper et le Nouvel Hollywood.” Dennis Hopper showed great courtesy to our staff and the many journalists who questioned him about his life and career, placing himself entirely at their disposal. He also took great pleasure in conversing with the Cinémathèque audience, which was delighted to be meeting an idol and icon of world cinema.

By Anne Thompson
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June 3, 2010 5:01 AM
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RIP: Cinematographer William Fraker

One of Hollywood's great cinematographers, William Fraker, succumbed to cancer Monday at age 86. While D.P.'s can be cranky, Fraker was known for his affability and exacting standards on sets, from Rosemary's Baby, Bullitt, 1941, Close Encounters and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to Tombstone and Heaven Can Wait. A Naval veteran of World War II, Fraker attended USC's School of Cinema under the G.I. Bill. He grew into one of the defining film talents to emerge in the 60s and worked productively well into his 80s: his last film was 2002's Waking Up in Reno.

By Cameron Carlson
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June 2, 2010 8:52 AM
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Dennis Hopper Dies of Prostate Cancer at 74; Obits and Clips

Dennis Hopper died on Saturday morning May 29 of complications from advanced prostate cancer; he was 74. When the young Kansan came to Hollywood in the 50s, he was mentored by James Dean, who brought him in to star in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. Hopper chafed under the constraints of the old studio system, where such directors as Henry Hathaway tried to tell him how to do his job on From Hell to Texas, The Sons of Katie Elder and True Grit.

By Anne Thompson
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May 29, 2010 10:09 AM
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The Late Great Lena Horne Sings Stormy Weather

Lena Horne has died at 92. Although she was not the first black performer under contract to a major studio, writes Aljean Harmetz in her NYT obit, "Horne was the first to make an impact." Here's Hollywood Elsewhere and the Boston Herald.

By Anne Thompson
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May 10, 2010 3:50 AM
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Palevsky, Los Angeles Arts Philanthropist, Dies

Computer executive and arts philanthropist Max Palevsky died peacefully of heart failure at his Los Angeles home on Wednesday morning at 5 am, according to his family. His memorial service is planned for this Friday, May 7 at 2 pm at the Max Palevsky Aero Theater (which he rescued from destruction) at 1328 Montana Ave in Santa Monica.