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Visionary production designer Ken Adam
Polish film titan Andrzej Wajda
Czech New Wave auteur Jan Nemec; expat Hungarian cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond
Cinematographers Raoul Coutard and Vilmos Zsigmond
Directors Hector Babenco (Pixote) and Michael Cimino (Heaven’s Gate)
Italian director Ettore Scola
Critic turned French New Wave director Jacques Rivette
Iranian visionary Abbas Kiarostami
Abbas Kiarostami
David Bowie, Prince, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Mohammad Ali, Bud Spencer
Obituaries 2016
Late 2015
Douglas Dick, 95: actor who had some prominent supporting roles in the late 1940s and 50s before becoming a psychologist (Rope; Home of the Brave; The Red Badge of Courage).
Paul Gregory, 95: producer of The Night of the Hunter and The Naked and the Dead.
Actors
Tarik Akan, 66: Turkish actor who came to international attention with his roles in The Herd and Yol and received honourable mention at Berlin for Pehlivan.
Giorgio Albertazzi, 92: distinguished Italian stage actor, most prominent in films as X in Last Year at Marienbad.
Alexis Arquette, 47: supporting player who broke ground for transgender performers in Hollywood (Last Exit to Brooklyn; Bride of Chucky).
Kenny Baker, 81: actor who operated R2-D2 in the Star Wars films and was Fidgit, one of the title characters in Time Bandits.
Terence Bayler, 86: starred in the groundbreaking New Zealand film Broken Barrier, played Macduff in Polanski’s Macbeth and had a memorable bit in Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
Brian Bedford, 80: stage actor often in classical roles, all too rarely in films (Grand Prix; Disney’s Robin Hood).
Amelia Bence, 101: one of the biggest stars of Argentine cinema’s golden age from the 1930s through the 50s (The Gaucho War; The Most Beautiful Eyes in the World).
Margaret ‘Maggie’ Blye, 73: actor best remembered for her role in Collinson’s The Italian Job.
David Bowie, 69: music icon and occasional actor who continually reinvented himself (The Man Who Fell to Earth; Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence; Labyrinth).
Richard Bradford, 81: white-haired tough-guy character actor (Penn’s The Chase; De Palma’s The Untouchables) who also starred in the TV series Man in a Suitcase.
Bobby Breen, 87: child actor and singer who was briefly a Hollywood star in the 1930s (Rainbow on the River; Make a Wish).
Tony Burton, 78: former boxer who played Duke in the first six Rocky films and one of the prisoners who defends the police station in Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13.
Charmian Carr, 73: ingénue who made her mark as Liesl, the oldest of the von Trapp children in The Sound of Music.
Joan Carroll, 85: child actor who was the third-eldest daughter in Meet Me in St. Louis and a troubled student in The Bells of St. Mary’s.
John Carson, 89: actor who had some of his most memorable roles for Hammer (The Plague of the Zombies; Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter).
Billy Chapin, 72: child actor who was Dan Dailey’s son in The Kid from Left Field and young John, memorably pursued by Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter.
Franco Citti, 80: Italian actor who starred in several films for Pasolini (Accattone) and played Michael Corleone’s Sicilian bodyguard in The Godfather.
Adrienne Corri, 85: striking redhead with prominent roles for Renoir (The River), Lean (Doctor Zhivago) and, most notoriously, Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange).
Nicole Courcel, 84: French actor who first came to attention in Jacques Becker’s Rendez-vous de juillet, then had notable roles for Carné, Guitry and Serge Bourguignon.
Richard Davalos, 85: played Aron Trask in East of Eden but subsequently was seen in smaller roles (Cool Hand Luke).
Nancy Davis (Reagan), 94: US first lady and wife of Ronald Reagan who was a Hollywood leading lady in the 1950s (Donovan’s Brain; Hellcats of the Navy).
Gloria DeHaven, 91: made her screen debut with an unbilled part in Modern Times, then became a singing star of MGM musicals (Two Girls and a Sailor; Summer Stock).
Patty Duke, 69: spent much of her career on TV, but won an Oscar for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and starred in the campy cult film Valley of the Dolls.
Ronit Elkabetz, 51: leading Israeli actor (Late Marriage; The Band’s Visit) and filmmaker (Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem).
Pierre Etaix, 87: French slapstick actor-director and protégé of Jacques Tati whose work was rediscovered after being out of circulation for decades (Happy Anniversary; Yoyo; Le Grand Amour).
Frank Finlay, 89: expert scene-stealer who played Iago to Olivier’s Othello, Porthos in Lester’s Musketeers trilogy and the father in Polanski’s The Pianist.
Carrie Fisher, 60: introduced a new breed of action heroine to the screen as Princess Leia in the Star Wars films, then reinvented herself as a fearlessly sharp-witted writer (Postcards from the Edge) and mental health advocate.
Bernard Fox, 89: actor who warned, “Iceberg dead ahead, sir!” in A Night to Remember, then returned as a passenger in Cameron’s Titanic and also played Dr Bombay on TV’s Bewitched.
Zsa Zsa Gabor, 99: glamorous actor who ultimately became better known as a colourful personality and tabloid fixture (Huston’s Moulin Rouge; Lili; Queen of Outer Space).
Michel Galabru, 93: leading French actor, equally at home in drama and broad farce (The Judge and the Assassin; La Cage aux folles; Kamikaze).
Rita Gam, 88: leading lady of the 1950s and early 60s (Sign of the Pagan; King of Kings).
Valerie Gaunt, 84: had brief, but critical roles in two of the foundational films of Hammer horror, The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula.
Götz George, 77: highly popular star of German TV (Tatort) and films (Schtonk!; The Deathmaker) whose career spanned seven decades.
Vivean Gray, 92: British actor who found fame in Australia on TV’s Neighbours and had key roles in two films for Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock; The Last Wave).
Eva Henning, 95: star of Swedish cinema, notably for her then-husband Hasse Ekman (Girl with Hyacinths) and Bergman (Thirst).
Ken Howard, 71: veteran TV actor, on film as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and a ruthless CEO in Michael Clayton.
David Huddleston, 85: played a gang leader in Bad Company, the mayor in Blazing Saddles and the title role in The Big Lebowski.
Anne Jackson, 90: eminent stage actor, often teamed with her husband Eli Wallach but only occasionally in films (The Secret Life of an American Wife; Lovers and Other Strangers).
Jayalalitha, 68: popular star of Telugu, Kannada and especially Tamil cinema who abandoned acting for a political career (Ayirathil Oruvan; Nam Naadu).
Fran Jeffries, 79: singer, dancer and actor who performed memorably seductive renditions of ‘Meglio Stasera’ in Edwards’s The Pink Panther and the title tune in Sex and the Single Girl.
Tommy Kelly, 90: child actor who played the title role in the 1938 version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
George Kennedy, 91: played Paul Newman’s rival-turned-ally in Cool Hand Luke, was a staple of the Airport disaster movies in the 1970s and showed a knack for comedy with the Naked Gun films.
Burt Kwouk, 85: busy character actor seen as villainous henchmen in Bond films and as Cato, the servant who keeps Clouseau on his toes in the Pink Panther films.
Chus Lampreave, 85: colourful Spanish character actor who was a favoured member of Almodóvar’s stock company from Dark Habits to Broken Embraces.
Madeleine Lebeau, 92: French actor who played Yvonne, who tearfully sings ‘La Marseillaise’ in Casablanca, and co-starred in Ealing’s Cage of Gold.
Ruth Leuwerik, 91: one of West Germany’s top box-office stars of the 1950s and early 60s (Königliche Hoheit; Die Trapp-Familie).
Richard Libertini, 82: character actor, often at his best in broad comedy (The In-Laws; All of Me).
William Lucas, 91: had notable supporting parts in Sons and Lovers and a couple of Hammer films, and later starred in the TV series The Adventures of Black Beauty.
Nicole Maurey, 90: French actor (Diary of a Country Priest) who was also active in Hollywood (Secret of the Incas) and England (The Day of the Triffids).
Marc Michel, 83: Swiss actor who co-starred in Becker’s Le Trou and played Roland Cassard in Lola and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
Noëlle Middleton, 89: Irish actor whose film career was largely confined to the 1950s (Carrington VC; The Iron Petticoat).
Michèle Morgan, 96: legendary star of classical French cinema (Le Quai des brumes; La Symphonie pastorale) who also co-starred with Bogart (Passage to Marseille) and Ralph Richardson (The Fallen Idol).
Noel Neill, 95: played Lois Lane opposite Kirk Alyn in the movie serials Superman and Atom Man vs. Superman and opposite George Reeves in the TV series Adventures of Superman.
Marni Nixon, 86: soprano who famously provided the singing voices for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.
Bill Nunn, 63: gained recognition as Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing, and thereafter played a variety of supporting roles (Regarding Henry; Spider-Man trilogy).
Hugh O’Brian, 91: actor frequently in westerns, on film (The Man from the Alamo; The Shootist) and TV (The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp).
Jacqueline Pagnol, 95: French actor and wife of Marcel Pagnol who starred in most of his post-war films and played the title role for his 1952 Manon des sources.
Silvana Pampanini, 90: Italian actor and sex symbol of the 1950s (A Husband for Anna; The Belle of Rome).
Conrad Phillips, 90: star of TV’s William Tell, though less prominently cast in films (The Desperate Man; Sons and Lovers).
Jon Polito, 65: gravel-voiced supporting player who had some of his best roles in films by the Coen brothers (Miller’s Crossing; The Big Lebowski).
Joe Powell, 94: veteran stuntman renowned for his ability to perform falls from great heights (The Guns of Navarone; The Man Who Would Be King).
Prince, 57: highly influential musician-singer-songwriter who also scored a major hit as the star and composer of the film Purple Rain.
Debbie Reynolds, 84: actor-singer-dancer who brought her indomitable spirit to a series of musicals and romantic comedies (Singin’ in the Rain; Tammy and the Bachelor; The Unsinkable Molly Brown).
Alan Rickman, 69: charismatic actor who could play psychotic villainy, dashing romanticism or anything in between (Die Hard; Truly Madly Deeply; Sense and Sensibility; the Harry Potter films).
Brian Rix, 92: actor-manager of stage farces, infrequently in films (Reluctant Heroes; Dry Rot).
Theresa Saldana, 61: actor who eventually resumed her career after being stabbed multiple times by an obsessed fan (I Wanna Hold Your Hand; Raging Bull).
William Schallert, 93: character actor often cast as fathers, doctors and officials (Lonely Are the Brave; In the Heat of the Night).
Angus Scrimm, 89: actor largely in horror films, most famously as the menacing Tall Man in Phantasm and its sequels.
Garry Shandling, 66: trendsetting TV comic (The Larry Sanders Show), only occasionally in films (What Planet Are You From?; Caron’s Love Affair).
Madeleine Sherwood, 93: Canadian actor and Actors Studio alumnus, prominent in two Tennessee Williams adaptations (Cat on a Hot Roof; Sweet Bird of Youth).
Shirakawa Yumi, 79: star of such Toho sci-fi films as Rodan, The Mysterians and The H-Man.
Sheila Sim, 93: actor and wife of Richard Attenborough who made a striking debut in A Canterbury Tale, and retired just a decade later (Dancing with Crime; The Night My Number Came Up).
Liz Smith, 95: came to acting in middle age and built a long list of credits on TV (The Royle Family) and film (Bleak Moments; A Private Function) over the next 40 years.
Bud Spencer, 86: burly star of spaghetti westerns and frequent sidekick of Terence Hill (God Forgives… I Don’t!; They Call Me Trinity).
Ruth Terry, 95: actor with Republic in the 1940s (Heart of the Golden West; Pistol Packin’ Mama).
Lupita Tovar, 106: star of early talkies, notably the 1931 Spanish-language version of Dracula and the groundbreaking Mexican film Santa.
Peter Vaughan, 93: actor who showed his versatility as one of the menacing villagers in Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, a government official in Brazil and Anthony Hopkins’s father in The Remains of the Day.
Robert Vaughn, 83: star of TV’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., on film he was the drunken Chet in The Young Philadelphians, one of The Magnificent Seven and a corrupt politician in Bullitt.
Abe Vigoda, 94: hangdog-faced actor who played the traitorous Corleone henchman Tessio in The Godfather, and later turned to comedy as Detective Fish on TV’s Barney Miller.
Fritz Weaver, 90: actor often cast as authority figures (Fail-Safe; The Day of the Dolphin).
Gene Wilder, 83: comedy giant celebrated for his collaborations with Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein) and Richard Pryor (Stir Crazy) and for his portrayal of the mysterious chocolatier Willy Wonka.
Douglas Wilmer, 96: supporting actor (The Brides of Fu Manchu; The Golden Voyage of Sinbad) best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on TV in the 1960s.
Xia Meng, 83: leading actor of Hong Kong cinema in the 1950s and 60s (A Night-Time Wife; A Widow’s Tears) who later became an independent producer (Ann Hui’s Boat People).
Anton Yelchin, 27: promising actor who was Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek films and played the lead in several smaller-scale films (Like Crazy).
Alan Young, 96: light comedic actor of radio, TV (Mister Ed) and films (Androcles and the Lion; Pal’s The Time Machine).
Animation
Frank Armitage, 91: animation background artist and production illustrator known for his tenure at Disney (Sleeping Beauty; 1967’s The Jungle Book).
Robert Balser, 88: served as an animation director on Yellow Submarine, worked on Heavy Metal and founded his own animation company in Spain.
Al Brodax, 90: producer and co-writer of Yellow Submarine.
Futaki Makiko, 57: leading Japanese animator who worked on Akira, When Marnie Was There and almost all of Miyazaki’s features.
Willis Pyle, 101: long-time animator noted for his credits with Disney (Fantasia; Bambi) and UPA (Gerald McBoing-Boing).
Zdenĕk Smetana, 90: leading filmmaker of Czech animation (The Umbrella; The End of a Cube).
Tyrus Wong, 106: painter and designer who was credited only as a background artist on Bambi but was later acknowledged as being instrumental to creating the film’s distinctive visual style.
Yasuda Michiyo, 77: animation colour designer on many of Studio Ghibli’s celebrated films, from its first feature Castle in the Sky through The Wind Rises.
Cinematographers
Raoul Coutard, 92: cinematographer closely linked to the Nouvelle Vague, especially Godard (Breathless; Le Mépris) and Truffaut (Shoot the Pianist; Jules & Jim).
Franco Di Giacomo, 83: veteran Italian cinematographer, notably on The Spider’s Stratagem, The Night of the Shooting Stars and Il Postino.
Sue Gibson, 63: DP who was the first female member of the British Society of Cinematographers and later served as its president (Hear My Song; Mrs Dalloway).
Jean Rabier, 88: French cinematographer who worked with Varda (Cleo from 5 to 7) and Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and shot more than 40 films for Chabrol.
Douglas Slocombe, 103: versatile DP famed for his work with Ealing who also shot The Servant, The Lion in Winter and the first three Indiana Jones films.
Wolfgang Suschitzky, 104: started his career shooting documentaries for Paul Rotha, then moved into features (Children of the City; The Small World of Sammy Lee; Get Carter).
Donald E. Thorin, 81: cinematographer on a string of Hollywood hits in the 1980s and 90s (Purple Rain; Brest’s Scent of a Woman).
Vilmos Zsigmond, 85: Hungarian-born DP in the US, celebrated for his innovative approach to lighting and his work with Altman, Spielberg, De Palma, Cimino and Boorman.
Costume & Set Designers
Ken Adam, 95: visionary production designer, particularly noted for his work on seven Bond films and two films for Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove; Barry Lyndon).
John B. Mansbridge, 98: art director, long associated with Disney (Bedknobs and Broomsticks; Tron).
Norma Moriceau, 72: Australian costume designer who helped create the look for the second and third Mad Max movies, Crocodile Dundee and four films for Phillip Noyce.
Gil Parrondo, 95: art director and production designer, often on films shot in his native Spain (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad; Patton; Robin and Marian).
Janet Patterson, age unreported: Australian costume and production designer who worked with Jane Campion (The Piano; Bright Star) and Gillian Armstrong (Oscar and Lucinda).
Paul Sylbert, 88: production designer who created the different worlds of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Heaven Can Wait, Wolfen and The Prince of Tides.
Composers & Musicians
Gato Barbieri, 83: Argentinian jazz saxophonist whose best known film work is composing the score for Last Tango in Paris.
George Martin, 90: innovative record producer most associated with The Beatles, he was also musical director on their films (Yellow Submarine) and scored Live and Let Die.
Harry Rabinowitz, 100: prolific conductor who contributed to such films as Chariots of Fire, The English Patient and several for Merchant-Ivory.
Tomita Isao, 84: Japanese composer who was a pioneer of electronic music (Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival; The Twilight Samurai).
Directors
Alexandre Astruc, 92: French critic, theorist and filmmaker (The Crimson Curtain; Shadows of Adultery) who influenced the Nouvelle Vague.
Hector Babenco, 70: Argentina-born Brazilian director who garnered acclaim for Pixote, then found Hollywood success with Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Michael Cimino, 77: experienced the extremes of Hollywood success and failure, celebrated for The Deer Hunter, then all but ostracised following the box-office disaster of Heaven’s Gate.
Tony Conrad, 76: musician who created the soundtrack for Flaming Creatures, then became an influential experimental filmmaker in his own right (The Flicker; Film Feedback).
Paul Cox, 76: one of Australia’s most independent and personal filmmakers, of both dramas (Lonely Hearts; Innocence) and documentaries (Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent van Gogh).
François Dupeyron, 65: French filmmaker known internationally for The Officers’ Ward and Monsieur Ibrahim.
Julio García Espinosa, 89: director (The Adventures of Juan Quin Quin), screenwriter (Lucía), co-founder and later director of ICAIC, Cuba’s film institute, and author of the influential essay ‘For an Imperfect Cinema’.
Guy Hamilton, 93: respected journeyman director (The Colditz Story; A Touch of Larceny) who also helmed four Bond films, starting with Goldfinger.
Curtis Hanson, 71: versatile writer-director who was often influenced by classical Hollywood (L.A. Confidential; Wonder Boys; 8 Mile).
Robin Hardy, 86: director whose reputation rests almost entirely on the enduring cult horror film The Wicker Man.
Arthur Hiller, 92: had a box-office smash with Love Story and was also known for his comedies (The Hospital; The In-Laws).
Annelise Hovmand, 92: a pioneer among female directors in Denmark who had her biggest hits in the late 1950s and early 60s (Be Dear to Me; Sekstet).
Peter Hutton, 71: globetrotting filmmaker of silent experimental works (Budapest Portrait: Memories of the City; Study of a River).
Dan Ireland, 57: director who also co-founded the Seattle International Film Festival (The Whole Wide World; Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont).
George Kaczender, 83: Hungarian-born director who worked in Canada (Don’t Let the Angels Fall; In Praise of Older Women).
Mohamed Khan, 73: was long one of Egypt’s leading filmmakers, known for his realist style (The Wife of an Important Man; Factory Girl).
Abbas Kiarostami, 76: brought Iranian cinema to world attention and became one of the most revered filmmakers of his time (Koker trilogy; Close-Up; Taste of Cherry; Ten).
Andrzej Kondratiuk, 79: Polish director of cult films (Hydrozagadka; Wniebowzieci).
John Krish, 92: director of various genres, most famous for his documentaries and sponsored films (The Elephant Will Never Forget; Sewing Machine).
Bruce Lacey, 88: irreverent performance artist, sculptor, comic actor (Help!) and experimental filmmaker (Everybody’s Nobody; The Lacey Rituals).
Herschell Gordon Lewis, 90: filmmaker whose low-budget, gory horror films earned him a devoted following (Blood Feast; Two Thousand Maniacs!).
Colin Low, 89: filmmaker of both animation (The Romance of Transportation in Canada) and documentaries (City of Gold; In the Labyrinth) who was a major force in Canadian cinema.
Nabil Maleh, 79: director and dissident who was an important figure in Syrian cinema (The Leopard; The Extras).
Garry Marshall, 81: TV sitcom writer-producer (Happy Days) who later directed popular film comedies (Pretty Woman) and occasionally acted (Lost in America).
Ted V. Mikels, 87: independent filmmaker of zero-budget exploitation films (The Astro-Zombies; The Doll Squad).
Jan Nemec, 79: directed key works of the Czech New Wave (Diamonds of the Night; A Report on the Party and the Guests), but was largely banned from filmmaking after the Soviet invasion.
Don Owen, 84: director who was an innovator of English-language Canadian cinema in the 1960s (Nobody Waved Good-bye; The Ernie Game).
Miguel Picazo, 89: director whose debut feature La tía Tula ranks as a classic of the New Spanish Cinema of the 1960s.
Jacques Rivette, 87: critic-turned-filmmaker and one of the leaders of the Nouvelle Vague (Paris Belongs to Us; Out 1; Celine and Julie Go Boating; La Belle Noiseuse).
Philip Saville, 86: spent much of his career directing for TV (Boys from the Blackstuff), but occasionally worked in the cinema (The Fruit Machine; Metroland).
Niklaus Schilling, 72: Germany-based Swiss filmmaker, most prominent in the late 1970s (The Expulsion from Paradise; The Willi Busch Report).
Ettore Scola, 84: writer-director who emerged from the commedia all’italiana (We All Loved Each Other So Much; A Special Day; The Family).
Anthony Simmons, 93: director of a variety of documentaries, features, commercials and TV programmes (Sunday by the Sea; The Optimists of Nine Elms).
Eliseo Subiela, 71: acclaimed Argentinian director of Man Facing Southeast and The Dark Side of the Heart.
Jeremy Summers, 85: directed Tony Hancock in The Punch and Judy Man and Christopher Lee in The Vengeance of Fu Manchu.
Tonino Valerii, 82: assistant director on the first two Dollars films, he then directed his own noteworthy spaghetti westerns (The Price of Power; My Name Is Nobody).
Andrzej Wajda, 90: major filmmaker who established his reputation with his war trilogy and whose subsequent work includes Man of Marble, Danton and Katyn.
Andrzej Zulawski, 75: provocative Polish director, often working in France (The Devil; Possession; L’Amour Braque).
Editors
Jim Clark, 84: distinguished editor (The Innocents; The Killing Fields) who also frequently worked with John Schlesinger (Darling).
Antony Gibbs, 90: frequent collaborator of Tony Richardson during his New Wave period who went on to edit key films for Richard Lester, Nicolas Roeg and Norman Jewison.
Producers & Studio Executives
Sylvia Anderson, 88: pioneering TV producer, writer and voice actor who also produced a handful of films (Thunderbirds Are Go; Doppelgänger).
Anne Balfour-Fraser, 92: prolific producer of short films (I Think They Call Him John; Never Go with Strangers).
Gene Gutowski, 90: produced three films for Polanski in the 1960s, beginning with Repulsion, then reunited with him decades later on The Pianist.
Barry Hanson, 72: producer of influential works for TV (The Naked Civil Servant) and film (The Long Good Friday).
Jud Kinberg, 91: producer and protégé of John Houseman (Lust for Life; The Collector).
Euan Lloyd, 92: publicist-turned-independent producer known for his all-star international action pictures (The Wild Geese; The Sea Wolves).
Donald Ranvaud, 62: film journalist-turned-producer who worked on an international scale (Farewell, My Concubine; Central Station; The Constant Gardener).
Simon Relph, 76: producer (Reds; The Ploughman’s Lunch; Hideous Kinky) who championed British film as the founding CEO of British Screen Finance and as chairman of Bafta.
Robert Stigwood, 81: Australian music and theatre impresario who also produced films that drew upon pop music (Tommy; Saturday Night Fever; Grease).
Michael White, 80: famed theatrical producer whose film ventures included Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and My Dinner with Andre.
Screenwriters
Alice Arlen, 75: journalist and biographer who switched to screenwriting (Silkwood; Alamo Bay).
Eric Bergren, 62: co-wrote the screenplays for The Elephant Man and Frances.
Bob Ellis, 73: Australian author, journalist, political speechwriter, playwright, screenwriter (Newsfront) and occasional director (The Nostradamus Kid).
Daniel Gerson, 49: screenwriter on animated features (Monsters Inc.; Big Hero 6).
Michael Herr, 76: journalist, author (Dispatches) and screenwriter (Full Metal Jacket) who also wrote the narration for Apocalypse Now.
Barry Hines, 76: novelist who adapted his own work for film (Kes; Looks and Smiles) and wrote the acclaimed TV movie Threads.
Norman Hudis, 93: wrote a string of B movies in the 1950s as well as the first half-dozen Carry On films.
Stanley Mann, 87: Canadian screenwriter who worked in both England and the US. (The Mouse That Roared; The Collector).
Matsuyama Zenzo, 91: screenwriter for Naruse (Yearning) and Kobayashi (The Human Condition) who later worked primarily as a director (Happiness of Us Alone).
Bill Richmond, 94: drummer-turned-comedy writer who co-wrote seven films for Jerry Lewis (The Ladies Man; The Nutty Professor).
Peter Shaffer, 90: playwright of Equus and Amadeus who also wrote the screenplays for the film versions.
Dennis Shryack, 80: co-wrote Burt Kennedy’s The Good Guys and the Bad Guys and two films for Eastwood (The Gauntlet; Pale Rider).
Barbara Turner, 79: screenwriter and the mother of Jennifer Jason Leigh (Petulia; Georgia; Pollock).
Sound & Special Effects
Tony Dyson, 68: effects artist and robotics expert who built the R2-D2 models for the original Star Wars trilogy.
Kit West, 80: special-effects artist known for his work with mechanical effects (Raiders of the Lost Ark; Return of the Jedi; Young Sherlock Holmes).
Ray West, 90: sound mixer who won an Oscar for Star Wars and also worked on The Fog and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Miscellaneous
Mithat Alam, 71: Turkish film connoisseur, collector and benefactor who inspired generations of Turkish cineastes and filmmakers, and lent his name to Istanbul’s Mithat Alam Film Centre.
Robert S. Birchard, 66: film historian, preservationist and author (Cecil B. DeMille’s Hollywood).
Fern Buchner, 87: makeup artist on All That Jazz, the two Addams Family movies and almost 20 films for Woody Allen.
Jack Davis, 91: illustrator whose distinctive style left its imprint on Mad magazine, comic book and magazine covers, and movie posters (It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World; Bananas).
P.K. Nair, 82: founder and longtime director of the National Film Archive of India.
Michael O’Pray, 70: writer, professor, founder of Film and Video Umbrella and champion of experimental cinema.
V.F. Perkins, 79: critic and educator who co-founded Movie magazine and authored the influential book Film as Film.
Gian Luigi Rondi, 94: Italian film critic and screenwriter who ran the David di Donatello Awards and served as president of both the Venice and Rome film festivals.
Gianni Rondolino, 83: Italian film critic and historian and founder of the Turin Film Festival.
Bill Warren, 73: critic and historian whose book Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties is a classic work on the subject.
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