Actor John Heard 1946-2017 Memorial Video

John Matthew Heard Jr. (March 7, 1946 – July 21, 2017) was an American film and television actor. He had lead roles in several films, including Chilly Scenes of Winter, Heart Beat, Cutter's Way, Cat People, and C.H.U.D., as well as supporting roles in After Hours, Big, Beaches, Awakenings, Heaven Help Us, Rambling Rose, The Pelican Brief, My Fellow Americans, Snake Eyes, and Animal Factory. He also played Peter McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, as well as appearing in Sharknado. Heard was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999 for guest starring on The Sopranos.

Heard died on July 21, 2017. He was found dead by staff in a hotel in Palo Alto, California, where he was reportedly recovering after undergoing minor back surgery at Stanford University Hospital. His death was confirmed by the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's office.

Silent Screen Actress Shirley Mason 1979 Westwood Village Cemetery

Shirley Mason (born Leonie Flugrath; June 6, 1900 – July 27, 1979) was an American actress of the silent era.

Biography

Born to Emil and Mary (née Dubois) Flugrath, she and her two sisters Edna and Virginia became actresses at the insistence of their mother. Mason, and her sister Virginia (Viola Dana), made their film debuts at the ages of 10 and 13, respectively, in the film A Christmas Carol (1910).[1] Mason's next film was 1911's The Threshold of Life (1911).

As a child actress, Mason was not in high demand. It was not until 1915 that she played her next role in the film Vanity Fair. In 1917, her career saw a major advance as she was cast in thirteen films that year alone, and was given the title role in the film The Awakening of Ruth.[2] Mason continued a vibrant acting career through the 1920s, landing several major roles. In the 1929 film, The Flying Marine, she appeared in her final role (along with her sister Viola) capping her career at 109 films between the years of 1910 and 1929.

The Flugrath sisters were a talented trio, and all three graced the theatrical world with their work in the silent film industry. Edna Flugrath was the eldest daughter, born in 1893, and was the only sister to maintain her original name upon entering the cinematic world. Virginia, who later changed her name to Viola Dana, was born in 1897, followed by the youngest, Leonie, who would one day be Shirley Mason. The mother of the Flugrath sisters was the one who first dreamed of their stage careers, and at a very young age had them enrolled in dance classes. The sisters spent much of their childhood touring with companies at Coney Island, Elks Clubs and other venues.[3]

Shirley Mason as Natacha Rambova and Viola Dana as Rudolph Valentino 

Eventually, their mother's efforts paid off; all 3 sisters were hired by Edison Studios. Viola met her husband, John Collins, at Edison, and the young director and actress became a successful husband-wife team. Edna also met her future husband at the Studios, and when Harold Shaw left to open the first British Film company, Edna accompanied him and shortly thereafter became his wife. Shirley had appeared in several films and had also met her future husband, Bernard Durning. 

Bernard Durning and Shirley Mason

Durning was a fellow actor and also director, and although eight years her senior, the two were married when Mason was only 16 years old. Mason and Durning enjoyed a very happy marriage, him directing films back East, and Shirley acting in them. All was well until 1923 when Bernard contracted typhoid fever and died, leaving 22-year-old Shirley a widow. 

Sidney Lanfield

Mason was remarried once more in 1927 to director Sidney Lanfield. The two remained married until Lanfield died of a heart attack in 1972.[4]

Shirley Mason and Sidney Lanfield are interred at Westwood Village Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. 

Partial filmography

A Christmas Carol (1910)
A Fresh Air Romance (1912)
Vanity Fair (1915)
Where Love Is (1917)

The Seven Deadly Sins (1917)

Come on In (1918)
Good-Bye, Bill (1918)
The Rescuing Angel (1919)
The Final Close-Up (1919)
Putting It Over (1919)

Treasure Island (1920) (as Jim)

Jackie (1921)
Little Miss Smiles (1922)

Lights of the Desert (1922)

My Husband's Wives (1924)
Lord Jim (1925)
Desert Gold (1926)

Don Juan's 3 Nights (1926)

Let It Rain (1927)

Sally in Our Alley (1927)

So This Is Love? (1928)
Vultures of the Sea (1928)
Runaway Girls (1928)

Anne Against the World (1929)

The Show of Shows (1929)

References

1. "Actual film stored at archive.org."
2. "Biography from IMDB."
3. "Flugrath Article."
4. "Miss Shirley Mason."

Art Director & Production Designer Cedric Gibbons 1960 Calvary Cemetery

Austin Cedric Gibbons (March 23, 1893 – July 26, 1960) was an Irish art director and production designer for the film industry. He also made a significant contribution to motion picture theater architecture from the 1930s to 1950s. He is credited as the designer of the Oscar statuette in 1928. He was nominated 38 times for the Academy Award for Best Production Design and won the Oscar 11 times.[1]

Career

According to most sources, Gibbons was born in Dublin, Ireland. However, there are claims that he was born in 1890 in Brooklyn.[2][Notes 1] He studied at the Art Students League of New York and worked for his architect father. While at Edison Studios from 1915, he first designed a set for a film released in 1919, assisting Hugo Ballin. But, after this first foray, the studio closed, and he signed with Samuel Goldwyn in 1918. This evolved to working for Louis B. Mayer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1924 to 1956.

Gibbons was one of the original 36 founding members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and oversaw the design of the Academy Awards statuette in 1928, a trophy for which he himself would be nominated 39 times, winning 11.[3]

He retired in 1956 with about 1,500 films credited to him: however, his contract with MGM dictated that he receive credit as art director for every MGM film released in the United States, even though other designers may have done the bulk of the work. Even so, his actual hands-on art direction may have been about 150 films.

Personal life and death

In 1930, Gibbons married actress Dolores del Río and co-designed their house in Santa Monica, an intricate Art Deco residence influenced by Rudolf Schindler. They divorced in 1941; three years later [4] he married actress Hazel Brooks with whom he remained until his death.

On July 26, 1960, Gibbons died in Los Angeles at the age of 67. He is buried in the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.

Legacy

Gibbons's set designs, particularly those in such films as Born to Dance (1936) and Rosalie (1937), heavily inspired motion picture theater architecture in the late 1930s through 1950s. The style is found very clearly in the theaters that were managed by the Skouras brothers, whose designer Carl G. Moeller used the sweeping scroll-like details in his creations. Among the more classic examples are the Loma Theater in San Diego, The Crest in Long Beach and Fresno, and the Culver Theater in Culver City, all of which are in California and some extant. The style is sometimes referred to as Art Deco and Art Moderne. 

The iconic Oscar statuettes that he designed, which were first awarded in 1929, are still being awarded to winners at Oscars Awards ceremonies each year.

Academy Awards

Awards for Art Direction

The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)
The Merry Widow (1934)
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Blossoms in the Dust (1941)
Gaslight (1944)
The Yearling (1946)
Little Women (1949)
An American in Paris (1951)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Julius Caesar (1953)
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1957)

Nominations for Art Direction

When Ladies Meet (1933)
Romeo and Juliet (1936)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Conquest (1937)
Marie Antoinette (1938)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Bitter Sweet (1940)
When Ladies Meet (1941)
Random Harvest (1942)
Madame Curie (1943)
Thousands Cheer (1943)
Kismet (1944)
National Velvet (1944)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Madame Bovary (1949)
The Red Danube (1949)
Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Too Young to Kiss (1951)
Quo Vadis (1951)
The Merry Widow (1952)
Lili (1953)
The Story of Three Loves (1953)
Young Bess (1953)
Brigadoon (1954)
Executive Suite (1954)
I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955)
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
Lust for Life (1956)

Bibliography

"Cedric Gibbons Architect of Style," LA Modernism catalog, May 2006, pp. 16–17 by Jeffrey Head

Notes

1. There is no record of either an Austin or a Cedric Gibbons being born in Dublin in or around 1893. See civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie.

References

1. "Nominee Facts - Most Nominations and Awards," Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
2. Byrne, James Patrick; Coleman, Philip; King, Jason Francis (2017-03-23). Ireland and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History : a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851096145.
3. "Cedric Gibbons Biography." theoscarsite.com.
4. "Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen."

Silent Film Actress Gypsy Abbott 1952 Holy Cross Cemetery

Gypsy Abbott (January 31, 1896 – July 25, 1952) was an American silent film actress.

Gypsy Abbott and Crane Wilbur in Vengeance is Mine 

Career

Before entering films, Gypsy Abbott performed for a number of years on stage and in vaudeville. She began with E. H. Sothern's repertoire company and later played Flora Belle Fry in a road production of George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones.[1] She was married to director Henry King and was sometimes credited as Gypsie Abbott.

She is buried in the Grotto Section at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Filmography

Gypsy Abbott and Crane Wilbur in Vengeance is Mine (1916)
The Path of Sorrow (1913)
Called Back (1914)
The Key to Yesterday (1914)
The Man Who Could Not Lose (1914)
St. Elmo (1914)
Who Pays? (1915)
Beulah (1915)
For the Commonwealth (1915)
Letters Entangled (1915)
The Fruit of Folly (1915)
Vengeance Is Mine! (1916)
For Ten Thousand Bucks (1916)
Bungling Bill's Dress Suit (1916)
Some Liars (1916)
Her Luckless Scheme (1916)
Going to the Dogs (1916)
Rolling to Ruin (1916)
Paste and Politics (1916)
A Touch of High Life (1916)
Her Painted Pedigree (1916)
Bungling Bill's Bow-Wow (1916)
Lost, Strayed or Stolen (1916)
With or Without (1916)
The Wicked City (1916)
Shot in the Fracas (1916)
Jealous Jolts (1916)
A Lislebank(1917)
A Circus Cyclone (1917)
The Musical Marvel (1917)
The Butcher's Nightmare (1917)
A Studio Stampede (1917)
His Bogus Boast (1917)
When Ben Bolted (1917)
Lorelei of the Sea (1917)

Sources

1. Who's Who in the Film World - edited by Fred C. Justice and Tom R. Smith – 1914 - pg. 29, Film World Publishing

Character Actor Ford Rainey 2005 Westwood Village Cemetery

Ford Rainey (August 8, 1908 – July 25, 2005) was an American film, stage and television actor.[1]

Early life

Rainey was born in Mountain Home, Idaho, the son of Vyrna (née Kinkade), a teacher, and Archie Coleman Rainey.[2] He first acted on the stage while in high school. Rainey graduated from Centralia Junior College in Washington state and the Cornish Drama School in Seattle. He then moved to Connecticut to study acting at the Michael Chekhov Theatre Studio. Growing up in the outdoors and learning to ride horses helped him in his career as a tough-guy film presence later in life. Like many young actors, he worked odd jobs including logger, fisherman, fruit picker, carpenter, clam digger and working on an oil tanker before becoming a successful actor. He worked as a radio actor as well as a touring stage actor before breaking into films. His Broadway debut was in a 1939 Chekhov production of The Possessed that had a run of 14 performances. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II. After the war he moved to Ojai, California, where he, Woodrow Chambliss and other actors who had studied under Chekhov founded the Ojai Valley Players.

Career

Rainey made his film debut in White Heat in 1949 and became a familiar face in motion pictures, appearing in Perfect Strangers (1950), Two Rode Together (1961), 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962), Johnny Tiger (1966), and The Sand Pebbles (1966). 

His other film credits included The Gypsy Moths (1969), The Naked Zoo (1970), The Traveling Executioner (1970), My Old Man's Place (1971), Sixteen (1973), the horror films Halloween II (1981) and The Cellar (1989), Bed and Breakfast (1992), Inferno (1999). 

He also co-starred in the acclaimed television movie My Sweet Charlie (1970), and appeared in other TV movies such as A Howling in the Woods (1971) and The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (1974).

He guest-starred on many television series, including The Adventures of Kit Carson, Bonanza, The Invaders, The Brothers Brannagan (in the 1961 series finale "The Hunter and the Hunted"), The Tall Man, Stoney Burke, Daniel Boone, Gunsmoke, The Outer Limits, The Wild Wild West, Empire, Dundee and the Culhane, Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series), How the West was Won (aka The Macahans), The Untouchables, and the 1976 western Sara. The tall austere, authoritative-looking actor was a natural at playing leaders.

Between 1962-65 Rainey made four guest appearances on the CBS courtroom series Perry Mason, beginning with the role of Russell Durham in "The Case of the Unsuitable Uncle." In 1964 he played murder victim Harry Trilling in "The Case of the Ugly Duckling."

In the 1961-62 season he co-starred with Robert Young in the unsuccessful CBS series Window on Main Street, in which he portrayed newspaper editor Lloyd Ramsey. Tim Matheson, then a child actor, had a recurring role in the series, as did Constance Moore.

Rainey portrayed the adoptive father of Lee Majors' Steve Austin (The Six Million Dollar Man), and the foster father of Jaime Sommers (The Bionic Woman). He appeared in the 1987 miniseries Amerika.

Rainey played a general on CBS' M*A*S*H, and a judge on both The Waltons and Matlock. He played presidents on Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Later television appearances, in the 1990s and 2000s, include ER and recurring roles on Wiseguy, Ned and Stacey, and The King of Queens. He could also be seen in some commercials in the middle 1970s through the 1980s, such as REACH toothbrushes; a Johnson and Johnson product. During that time he was part of Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island.

Personal life

Ford Rainey was a bachelor until the age of 46, when, in 1954, he married Sheila Hayden and settled in New York City, where sons Robert and James were born. The family moved to Malibu, California, where daughter Kathy was born.

Rainey remained in Malibu with his wife while he acted and enjoyed hobbies such as beekeeping and bird breeding until his death on July 25, 2005, of a stroke, at the age of 96. His interment was in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. 

James Rainey is a writer for the Los Angeles Times.[1] Robert, a chiropractor, was the apparent victim of a robbery-murder in his office in Los Angeles. He was found by a patient on May 31, 2012.[3] His murder remains unsolved with a $50,000 reward for solving the case.[4]


Filmography

White Heat (1949) - Zuckie Hommell (uncredited)
Perfect Strangers (1950) - Ernest Craig (uncredited)
The Robe (1953) - Ship's Captain (uncredited)
The Human Jungle (1954) - Jones - Older Cop (uncredited)
3:10 to Yuma (1957) - Bisbee Marshal
The Badlanders (1958) - Warden
The Last Mile (1959) - Red Kirby
John Paul Jones (1959) - Lt. Simpson
Flaming Star (1960) - Doc Phillips
Parrish (1961) - John Donati (uncredited)
Two Rode Together (1961) - Reverend Henry Clegg
Ada (1961) - Speaker
Claudelle Inglish (1961) - Rev. Armstrong
Dead to the World (1961) - Congressman Keach
40 Pounds of Trouble (1962) - Judge
Kings of the Sun (1963) - The Chief
Gunpoint (1966) - Tom Emerson
Johnny Tiger (1966) - Sam Tiger
The Sand Pebbles (1966) - Harris
Chuka (1967) - Captain Robert R. Foster (uncredited)
The Gypsy Moths (1969) - Stand Owner
The Naked Zoo (1970) - Harry Golden
The Traveling Executioner (1970) - Stanley Mae
My Old Man's Place (1971) - Sheriff Coleman
Sixteen (1973) - Pa Irtley
Cotter (1973)
The Parallax View (1974) - Commission Spokesman #2
Guardian of the Wilderness (1976) - Abraham Lincoln
Halloween ΙΙ (1981) - Dr. Frederick Mixter
The Cellar (1989) - T.C. van Houten
Bed and Breakfast (1991) - Amos
The Politics of Desire (1998) - Radio Listener's Husband
Inferno (1999) - Pop Reynolds
Purgatory Flats (2003) - Phil

References

1. Myrna Oliver, "Ford Rainey, 96; Performed Shakespeare, Shepard and Variety of Film, TV Roles," Los Angeles Times, July 26, 2005.
2. Ford Rainey Biography (1908-)
3. Joel Rubin, "Slain L.A. chiropractor 'wanted to believe the best about the world,' Los Angeles Times, June 2, 2012.
4. Schwartz, Gadi (27 November 2013). "New Images Released After Doctor Is Killed at Office." NBC Southern California.

Actor Martin Landau 1928-2017 Memorial Video

Martin Landau (June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor of stage, television and film, acting coach, executive producer, voice artist, editorial cartoonist and comic strip producer.

His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). He played regular roles in the television series Mission: Impossible (for which he received several Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award) and Space: 1999.

Landau received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, as well as his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) He received his second Oscar nomination for his appearance in Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). His performance in the supporting role of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood (1994) earned him an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award. He continued to perform in film and television, and headed the Hollywood branch of the Actors Studio until his death in July 2017.

Landau married actress and former co-star Barbara Bain on January 31, 1957, and they divorced in 1993. They had two daughters, Susan and Juliet.

On July 15, 2017, Landau died at the age of 89 at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, Los Angeles, California; he had been briefly hospitalized and, according to his representative, died of a heart attack.

Challenger Astronaut Sally Ride 2012 Woodlawn Cemetery

Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American physicist and astronaut. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in 1983. She remains the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space, having done so at the age of 32. After flying twice on the Orbiter Challenger, she left NASA in 1987. 

She worked for two years at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control, then at the University of California, San Diego as a professor of physics, primarily researching nonlinear optics and Thomson scattering. She served on the committees that investigated the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters, the only person to participate on both. 

Personal life

Sally Ride was extremely private about her personal life. In 1982, she married fellow NASA astronaut Steve Hawley. They divorced in 1987.

After Ride's death, her obituary revealed that her partner of 27 years was Tam O'Shaughnessy, a professor emerita of school psychology at San Diego State University and childhood friend, who met her when both were aspiring tennis players. O'Shaughnessy was also a science writer and, later, the co-founder of Sally Ride Science. O'Shaughnessy now serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Sally Ride Science. They wrote six acclaimed children's science books together. Their relationship was revealed by the company and confirmed by her sister, who said she chose to keep her personal life private, including her sickness and treatments. She is the first known LGBT astronaut.

Death

Sally Ride died on July 23, 2012, at the age of 61, seventeen months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Following cremation, her ashes were interred next to her father at Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica, California.