BIFF ELLIOT - Filmdoms 1st Mike Hammer and Star Trek Guest-Star

Actor Biff Elliot died at his home in Studio City, California, on August 15, 2012. He was born Leon Shalek in Lynn, Massachusettes, on July 26, 1923. He was 89.  He was a champion amatuer boxer under the name Biff Harris while in his teens. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and graduating from the University of Main after his discharge. He moved to New York in 1949 in the hopes of attaining a writing career and also began training as an actor. He appeared on stage and television, before making his film debut as detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s "I, the Jury". Elliot continued his film career in the features "House of Bamboo" (1955), "Good Morning, Miss Dove" (1955), "Between Heaven and Hell" (1956), "The True Story of Jesse James" (1957), "The Enemy Below" (1957), "Torpedo Run" (1958), "Pork Chop Hill" (1959), "The Story on Page One" (1959), "PT 109" (1963), "Brainstorm" (1965), "Blood Bath" (aka "Track of the Vampire") (1966), "Destination Inner Space" (1966), "The Navy vs. The Night Monsters" (1966), "The Day of the Wolves" (1971), "The Hard Ride" (1971), "Kotch" (1971), "Cool Breeze" (1972), "Save the Tiger" (1973), "Wednesday" (1974), "The Front Page" (1974),

"The Wild McCullochs" (1975), "Beyond Reason" (1977), "The Dark" (1979), and "That’s Life!" (1986). He appeared frequently on television in such episodes as "Lights Out", "Kraft Television Theatre", "The Philco Television Playhouse", "Lux Video Theatre", "Treasury Men in Action", "Waterfront", "Stage 7", "The Man Behind the Badge", "Science Fiction Theatre", "Damon Runyon Theater", "Big Town", "M Squad", "The Millionair", "Behind Closed Doors", "Perry Mason", "Law of the Plainsman", "Ripcord", "The Roaring 20’s", "Surfside 6", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Laramie", "77 Sunset Strip", "Route 66", "Hawaiian Eye", "The Lieutenant", "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters", "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "ABC Stage 67", "Combat!", the 1967 "Star Trek" episode "The Devil in the Dark", "Mission: Impossible", "Bonanza", "The F.B.I.", "The Magician", "The Streets of San Fransisco", "Cannon", "ABC Afterschool Specials", "Planet of the Apes", "The Blue Knight", "Gibbsville", "The Next Step Beyond", "Falcon Crest", "CHiPs", and "Starman". He also appeared in the tele-films "Steambath" (1973), "The Stranger Who Looks Like Me" (1974), and "Portrait of an Escort" (1980). In his later career, Elliot also covered sports in Los Angeles for the "CBS Radio Network".

HARRY HARRISON - Sci-Fi Writer & Creator of the Stainless Steel Rat

HARRY HARRISON - Sci-Fi Writer & Creator of the Stainless Steel Rat

Science fiction writer Harry Harrison who was best known his series featuring the characters the Stainless Steel Rat and Bill, the Galactic Hero, and penning the novel "Make Room, Make Room", which was later filmed as "Soylent Green", died at his home in Brighton, England, on August 15, 2012.  He was 87. He was born Henry Maxwell Dempsey in Stamford, Connecticut, on March 12, 1925.  He served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a gunnery instructor during World War II.  He subsequently worked as an illustrator for comics and pulp magazines, and scripted the "Flash Gordon" comic strip.  He created his best known character, James Bolivar 'Slippery Jim' DiGriz, in a 1957 short story for "Astounding" magazine, that was revised and expanded for the 1961 novel "The Stainless Steel Rat".  Harrison's intergalactic con-man headlined numerous novels, short-stories, and comic books over the next five decades, culminating in 2010's "The Stainless Steel Rat Returns".  He frequently shared his advocation in the international laguage Esperanto in these and other stories.

He wrote the 1966 novel "Make Room! Make Room!", about a dystopian future where there were too many people and too little food, though he reportedly abhorred addition of cannibalism to Richard Fleischer's 1973 film version, "Soylent Green", starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson in his final role.  Harrison also wrote the "Deathworld" series, and created "Bill, the Galactic Hero", in a satirical anti-war novel in 1965.  He returned to the character in the 1989 novel "Bill, the Galactic Hero On the Planet of Robot Slaves", and a handful of subsequent stories were penned by others under Harrison's auspice.  His other novels include "The Techicolor Time Machine" (1967), "Captive Universe" (1969), "Spaceship Medic" (1970), the "To the Stars" trilogy including "Homeworld" (1980), "Wheelworld" (1981), and "Starworld" (1981), "A Rebel in Time" (1983), the "Eden" trilogy including "West of Eden" (1984), "Winter in Eden" (1986), and "Return to Eden" (1988), and the "Hammer and the Cross" series with John Holm (Tom Shippey).  His "Deathworld" series had a resurgence in Russia in the 2000s, with a handful of novel co-authored with Ant Akalandis and Mikhail Ahmanov.

EMI ITO - Half of the Twin Shobijin Fairies in Toho's Mothra Films

EMI ITO - Half of the Twin Shobijin Fairies in Toho's Mothra Films

 Japanese singer Emi Ito, who teamed with her twin sister, Yumi, as part of the pop duo The Peanuts and were featured opposite Toho monster moth, Mothra, in the 1960s, died in Japan on June 15, 2012.  She was 71.  She was born in Tokoname, Aichi, Japan, on April 1, 1941.  She and her sister began performing together in the late 1950s, appearing in the film "Kawaii Hana" (aka "Lovely Flowers").  They were also featured in the television variety series "Shabondama Holiday" in the early 1960s.  They became best known as stars of the Toho feature, "Mothra", the tiny Shobijin Fairies, whose kidnapping from Infant Island by an unscrupulous impressario leads to Mothra, first as a massive caterpillar and then an immense moth, to wreak destruction across the globe to rescue them.

  The sisters returned as Mothra's companions and translators, for the films "Godzilla vs. the Thing" (1964) and "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" (1964).  The Peanuts were also seen in the films "Yumi de Aimasho" (1962), "Watashi to Watashi" (1962), "Crazy Adventure" (1965), "Kureji Ogon Sakusen" (1967), and "Mexican Free-for-All" (1968).  The twins were also noted for recording Japanese versions of Western hits before they retired in 1975.  Emi was married to singer Kenji Sawada from 1975 until their divorce in 1987.  She is survived by her sister.

ANDREW SARRIS - Film Critic Extroardinaire and Auteur Theory Proponent



w/Hitchcock



Film critic Andrew Sarris, who was a leading proponent of the auteur theory that a director is the preiminent figure in the making of a film, died of complications from a fall in a Manhattan hospital on June 20, 2012. He was 83.  Sarris was born in Brooklyn on October 31, 1928. He was fascinated by films from childhood, and graduated from Columbia College in 1951. He served in the Army Signal Corps in the early 1950s and began writing for "Film Culture" in 1955. He became the film critic for "The Village Voice" in 1960, and quickly established himself as a leading figure in cinema. He was an advocate of the new wave of foreign directors, including Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, and Akira Kurosawa, whose films swept the United States in the 1960s. He also championed such Hollywood luminaries as Orson Welles, John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Sam Fuller, and gave his critical approval to Alfred Hitchcock, who he described as "the most daring avant-garde filmmaker in America today," in his 1960 review of "Psycho". Sarris later promoted the talents, and occasionally exposing the warts, of younger directors including Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Francis Ford Coppola. Sarris penned the influential book "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968" (1968). Sarris was not adverse to revisiting and revising his previous opinions of films and filmmakers. He originally panned Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", but upon a later viewing he stated, "I must report that I recently paid another visit to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001’ while under the influence of a smoked substance that I was assured by my contact was somewhat stronger and more authentic than oregano... Anyway, I prepared to watch ‘2001’ under what I have always been assured were optimum conditions, and surprisingly (for me) I find myself reversing my original opinion. ‘2001’ is indeed a major work by a major artist."

 He frequently feuded with fellow critics Pauline Kael and John Simon, who debated the merit of the auteur theory. He penned several other books including "Confessions of a Cultist: On the Cinema, 1955-1969" (1970), "The Primal Screen: Essays on Film and Related Subjects" (1973), "The John Ford Movie Mystery" (1975), "Politics and Cinema" (1978), and "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: The American Talking Film – History and Memory, 1927-1949" (1998). He also participated in several documentaries including "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood" (2003), "For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism" (2009), and "Andrew Sarris: Critic in Focus" (2011). He continued to write for "The Village Voice" through the late 1980s, and was regularly reviewing films for "The New Your Observer" through 2009. Sarris was also a film professor at Columbia University's School of Arts until his retirement in 2011. He married fellow film critic Molly Haskell in 1969, and she survives him.

CAROLINE JOHN - Doctor Who Companion Liz Shaw

British actress Caroline John, who starred as Liz Shaw in the television series "Doctor Who" in 1970, died in London on June 5, 2012. She was 72.  John was born in York, England, on October 11, 1940. She began her career on stage and toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre in the 1960s. She was featured on television in a 1967 production of "Much Ado About Nothing", and appeared in episodes of "Teletale" and "The Power Game". She was cast as Liz Shaw, a Cambridge scientist, who became a short-lived companion to Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor for four adventures in 1970. She reprised her role in the 1983 episode "The Five Doctors" and a 1993 special episode, "Dimensions in Time". She also appeared in several direct to video releases in the "P.R.O.B.E." series in the 1990s that featured many fellow "Doctor Who" alumni, and was a voice performer for several audio dramas based on the series in the 2000s. John's other television credits include episodes of "The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes", "Z Cars", "Love Story", "Crown Court", "The Bill", "A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery", "A Perfect Spy", "Dramarama", "Casualty", "Agatha Christie's Poirot", "Wish Me Luck" as Helene Renard in 1990, "Chancer", "Harry Enfield's Television Programme", "London's Burning", "The House of Eliott", "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", "The Choir", "EastEnders", "Silent Witness", "In Suspicious Circumstances", "Dangerfield", "Midsomer Murders", "Vital Signs", and "Doctors". She also appeared in television productions of "The Rose of Eyam" (1973), "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1982), "A Pattern of Roses" (1983), "A Very British Coup" (1988), "A Day in Summer" (1989), "The Woman in Black" (1989), and "Kiss and Tell" (1996). She was featured in a handful of films during her career including "The King's Breakfast" (1963), "Assassin" (1973), "The Razor's Edge" (1984), "Santa Claus" (1985), "Link" (1986), "The Woodlanders" (1997), and "Love Actually" (2003). She is survived by her husband, actor Geoffrey Beevers.

ANTHONY BATE - British Character Actor in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

British actor Anthony Bate, who was noted for his role as Oliver Lacon in the BBC production of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", died in an Isle of Wight, England, hospital, on June 19, 2012. He was 84.  Bate was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England, on August 31, 1927. He began his career on stage in the early 1950s, and made his West End debut in a production of "Inherit the Wind" in 1960. He appeared frequently on television from the late 1950s with roles in such series as "A Tale of Two Cities", "Captain Moonlight: Man of Mystery", "White Hunter", "Ivanhoe", "The Honey Siege", "Deadline Midnight", "The World of Tim Frazer", "Boyd Q.C.", "You Can't Win", "A Chance of Thunder", "Dixon of Dock Green", "Studio 4", "Sir Francis Drake", "Out of This World", "BBC Sunday-Night Play", "No Hiding Place", "The Odd Man", "First Night", "Sergeant Cork", "The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre", "The Sullavan Brothers", "ITV Sunday Night Drama", "The Idiot", "Gideon's Way", "Redcap", "Broome Stages", "Drama '67", "ITV Play of the Week", "Angel Pavement" as Mr. Golspie in 1967, "Theatre 625", "The Avengers", "Spindoe", "Half Hour Story", "City 68", "The Saint", "The Champions", "Ivanhoe" as Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert in 1970, "Grady", "Shadows of Fear", "The Expert", "Horizon", "Out of the Unknown", "The Gardians", "Suspicion", "ITV Saturdeay Night Theatre", "The Befrienders", "The Man Chance", "Menace", "Sutherland's Law", "Armchair Theatre", "Helen: Woman of Today", "Heil Caesar!", "Intimate Strangers" as Harry Paynter in 1974, "Shades of Greene", "Couples" as Robert Warren from 1975 to 1976, "Murder", "Beasts", "Jubilee", "A Life at Stake", "The Wilde Alliance", "Scorpion Tales", "Scene", "Square Mile of Murder", "Leap in the Dark", "Play for Today", "BBC 2 Playhouse", "Crown Court", "Maybury" "Weekend Playhouse", "Artist's and Models", "Call Me Mister", "Inspector Morse", "Game, Set, and Match" as Bret Renssalaer in 1988, "Agatha Christie's Poirot", "Medics", "A Touch of Frost", "Bodyguards", "Silent Witness", "Midsomer Murders", and "The Bill". His other television credits include productions of "Cards with Uncle Tom" (1959), "Macbeth" (1966), "Les Miserables" (1967) as Insp. Javert, "Julius Caesar" (1969), "Fathers and Sons" (1971), "King Oedipus" (1972), "Ego Hugo" (1973), "Philby, Burgess and Maclean" (1977) as Kim Philby, "Treasure Island" (1977), "The Seagull" (1978), "An Englishman's Castle" (1978), "Crime and Punishment" (1979), the 1979 adaptation of John Le Carre's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" as Sir Oliver Lacon, a role he reprised in the 1982 sequel "Smiley's People", "'Tis Pity She's a Whore" (1980), "Fanny by Gaslight" (1981), "Shackleton" (1982), "A Woman Called Golda", "Nelly's Version" (1983), "Breakthrough at Reykjavik" (1987), "Countdown to War" (1989), "War and Remembrance" (1988) as Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, "Prime Suspect: Inner Circle" (1995), and "Rebecca" (1997). Bate was featured in a handful of films during his career including "High Tide at Noon" (1957), "Desert Mice" (1959), "The Big Day" (1960), "Dentist in the Chair" (1960), "Payroll" (1961), "Dentist on the Job" (1961), "A Prize of Arms" (1962), "The Set Up" (1963), "Act of Murder" (1964), "Stopover Forever" (1964), "Davy Jones' Locker" (1966), "Ghost Story" (1974), "Give My Regards to Broad Street" (1984), "Eminent Domain" (1990), "Happy Now" (2001), and "Nowhere in Africa" (2001).

SUSAN TYRRELL - Cult Film Actress

Character actress Susan Tyrrell died at her home in Austin, Texas, on June 16, 2012. She was 67.  She was born Susan Creamer in San Francisco on March 18, 1945, and was raised in New Canaan, Connecticut. She began her career on stage in the early 1960s, performing in regional theater and summer stock. She was appearing in productions on and off Broadway by the end of the decade including "The Rimers of Eldritch" (1967), "A Cry of Players" (1968), "The Time of Your Life" (1969), and "Camino Real" (1970). She made her film debut in the early 1970s, with roles in "Shoot Out" (1971), "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me" (1971), and "The Steagle" (1971). Her role as the young barfly, Oma, in John Huston’s 1972 film "Fat City" earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She frequently appeared in off-beat roles in cult films over the next three decades. Her film credits include ""Catch My Soul" (1974), "Zandy’s Bride" (1974), "To Kill the King" (1974), "The Killer Inside Me" (1976), the animated fantasy "Wizards" (1977) as the narrator, "Islands in the Stream" (1977), "Andy Warhol’s Bad" (1977), "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden" (1977), "September 30, 1955" (1977), "Another Man, Another Chance" (1977), "Racquet" (1979), "Loose Shoes" (1980), "Subway Riders" (1981), "Tales of Ordinary Madness" (1981), Richard Elfman’s cult classic "Forbidden Zone" (1982) as Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension, "Fast-Walking" (1982), "Liar’s Moon" (1982), the comedy redub "What’s Up, Hideous Sun

 Demon" (1983) as the voice of Bunny, the psycho thriller "Night Warning" (1983) as Aunt Cheryl, the animated "Fire and Ice" (1983), "The Killers" (1984), "Angel" (1984) and "Avenging Angel" (1985) as Solly Mosler, "Flesh+Blood" (1985), "The Underachievers" (1987), "From a Whisper to a Scream" (aka "The Offspring") (1987), the animated "The Chipmunk Adventure" (1987), "Tapeheads" (1988), "Big Top Pee-wee" (1988) as Midge Montana, "Far from Home" (1989), "Rockula" (1990), John Waters’ "Cry-Baby" (1990) as Ramona Rickettes, Johnnny Depp’s biker grandma, "Motorama" (1991), "The Demolitionist" (1995), "Digital Man" (1995), "Powder" (1995), "Poison Ivy: The New Seduction" (1997), "Pink as the Day She Was Born" (1997), "Relax... It’s Just Sex" (1998), "Swap Meet" (1999), "Buddy Boy" (1999), "Masked and Anonymous" (2003), the short "The Devil’s Due at Midnight" (2004), and "Pieces of Dolores" (2007). Tyrrell also appeared frequently on television during her career, with roles in episodes of "The Patty Duke Show", "Mr. Novak", "Bonanza", "Nichols", "Baretta", "Starsky and Hutch", "Kojak", "Flying High", "Visions", the short-lived comedy series "Open All Night" as Gretchn Feester" from 1981 to 1982, "The Hitchhiker", "Shades of LA", "Wings", and "Tales from the Crypt". Her other television credits include the tele-films "Lady of the House" (1978), "Ladies in Waiting" (1979), "Willow B: Women in Prison" (1980), "Midnight Lace" (1981), "Jealousy" (1984), "MacGruder and Loud" (1985), "Thompson’s Last Run" (1986), "If Tomorrow Comes" (1986), "The Christmas Star" (1986), "Poker Alice" (1987), and "Windmills of the Gods" (1988). She was also a voice actress on the cartoons "Cow and Chicken", "I am Weasel", and "Extreme Ghostbusters". Tyrrell contracted a rare blood disease, thrombocythemia, in 2000, and both of her legs were amputated below the knee due to multiple clots. She continued her career from a wheelchair, making her final film appearance in 2012’s "Kid-Thing".