DCS: glen campbell
Ever smilin’ Ever gentle on my mind
Archive of posts filed under the dead celebrity spotlight category.
DCS: mark frechette
Sally Dennison, a Hollywood casting director, saw Mark Frechette, a Boston carpenter, yelling at a woman on the street. The angered Mark hurled a flowerpot at the woman from his third-floor vantage point and continued his vicious shouting. Sally was captivated. She quickly brought the young hothead to her director, Michelangelo Antonioni. She explained, “He’s …
DCS: lynne frederick
Lynne Frederick aspired to be a math teacher, but her delicate, “fairy tale princess” looks pointed her towards a career as an actress. As a teenager, she was featured in numerous films in her native England, including the historical drama Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971 and Henry VIII and His Six Wives a year later. She was named “Best …
DCS: george a. romero
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, budding filmmaker George Romero was making commercials and shooting segments for the popular children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He teamed up with writer John Russo and wrote a script for a comedy-horror film called Monster Flick. The pair raised $114,000 and shot the film in and around their native Pittsburgh with …
DCS: albert salmi
Albert Salmi loved the stage and believed that film and television roles paled in comparison to the legitimate theater. In 1955, Albert starred as “Bo Decker” in the Broadway production of William Inge’s Bus Stop. He was offered to reprise the role in the 1956 film opposite Marilyn Monroe, but declined. Don Murray took the …
DCS: pepi lederer
Young Josephine Lederer was a welcome and frequent guest at Hearst Castle, the guest of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and her aunt, Hearst’s lover, actress Marion Davies. Hearst was fond of Marion’s niece, as well as Josephine’s brother, future screenwriter Charlie Lederer. The energetic and vivacious Josephine earned herself the nickname “Peppy.” She altered …
DCS: michael bond
“Adventures are always better with friends.” After surviving a building collapse following a World War II air raid, Michael Bond joined to Royal Air Force, but was dismissed after a severe bout of air sickness. He spent the rest of the war in an administrative position. After the war, Michael became a cameraman with the …
DCS: stephen furst
“Flounder, you can’t spend your whole life worrying about your mistakes! You fucked up! You trusted us!” Stephen Furst was delivering pizzas to supplement his struggling acting career. Ever the innovator, he included his head shot with every pie he delivered. One day, he made a delivery to producer Matty Simmons, who was getting ready …
DCS: adam west
Adam West ended the decades-long controversy in a single sentence on an episode of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory: “It should be me, Keaton, Kilmer, Lego, Bale, and the pretty boy Clooney.” Adam passed away on June 9, 2017 after a short battle with leukemia. He was 88. Here’s my own memory of West’s …
DCS: kurt cobain
Kurt Cobain never wanted to be the voice of his generation. In a suicide note to his imaginary childhood friend “Boddah,” Kurt lamented that he no longer “felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing for too many years now.” Kurt took his own life on April 5, 1994. His body …