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1-13 of 13
- Wynn Irwin was born on 11 December 1932 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Die Hard 2 (1990), Surviving Christmas (2004) and From Here to Eternity (1979). He died on 15 February 2018.
- Lassie Lou Ahern, who enjoyed a substantial career in 1920s Hollywood working with the likes of Will Rogers, Charley Chase, Helen Holmes, and the team of Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky, has passed away in Prescott, Arizona, USA, due to complications of the flu. After decades of relative obscurity, interest in her life and filmography won her a new audience of fans during her final years owing to a renewed cultural appreciation of silent cinema and to efforts made toward restoring her final silent film. Along with surviving star "Baby Peggy" (Diana Serra Cary), 99, Ahern was the last Hollywood performer with deep roots in motion pictures before the coming of sound. Brimming with stories, details, and information, her loss finds our relationship to silent cinema moving from living history to simply that of history.
She was born four blocks away from the Ambassador Hotel in Hollywood. Her father, Fred Ahern, was a real estate agent who had Will Rogers as a leading client as Culver City was being formed. After meeting Lassie and her older sister Peggy, Rogers encouraged Ahern to take his daughters to Hal Roach studios to be cast in parts calling for children, and soon they earned ancillary roles in the Our Gang. Rogers took an active interest in Lassie, ensuring she had parts in his films. Throughout her life, with great fondness, she considered him her "real" father. She made her debut in Roach's first full-length movie, an adaptation of The Call of the Wild (1923), and soon was regularly cast in Charley Chase comedies and as the object of rescue in the popular serials of Helen Holmes. In pictures such as Webs of Steel (1925), Lassie, like Holmes, supplied her own dangerous stunt work. Meanwhile she appeared in productions by independent producers (The Dark Angel for Samuel Goldwyn, Hell's Highroad for Cecil B. DeMille, Robes of Sin for William Russell [all 1925]), as well as features at major studies (John Ford's now lost film Thank You and Excuse Me starring Norma Shearer [both 1925]), before landing a contract with Universal in the mid-1920s.
She found her biggest success in the epic Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927), in which she landed the part of Little Harry over hundreds of boys who auditioned for the role. Shot largely on location on the Mississippi River, she appeared in the legendary sequence featuring the escape across the ice floes. While the movie would be the object of a spate of bad fortune that led to its taking more than a year and a half to make, it was the highlight of her career and won her excellent notices. Of her acting, biographer Jeffrey Crouse, in an extended interview conducted with her in 2013 for Film International, has written that, "though by today's standards she fails to convince as a boy, she commits fully to the movie in such an animated, engaging way that she provides it with a color splash which sweetly enlivens the picture." It ended up becoming the third most expensive 1920s Hollywood production after Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and Old Ironsides (1926), and like those other films it lost money at the box office.
At Universal she had her own dressing room (it had once been Conrad Nagel's) and star on the door. An entire clothing line was named after her ("Lassie Lou Classics"), and her name and image were used to endorse such brands as Sunkist oranges, Buster Brown shoes, and Jean Carol frocks. At the same time, she was cast in the rare Jewish-themed drama Surrender (1927) opposite Mary Philbin and, in his only American film, Ivan Mozhukhin. She also appeared as an Arab girl in The Forbidden Woman (1927) starring Jetta Goudal and Joseph Schildkraut. Schildkraut, who would later win an Oscar for playing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), announced at the wrap party that he was so impressed by her acting skills that he considered her his "favourite co-star." That year also saw her cast as the co-lead opposite rising child star Frankie Darro in the FBO production Little Mickey Grogan. It was her swan song to silent pictures, and alongside her part as Little Harry, her role as the street urchin Susan Dale was the one of which she was most proud.
The late 1920s saw a spate of proto-gangster films (Underworld [1927], Ladies of the Mob [1928], and Thunderbolt [1929]), and alarmed by the rising depiction of screen violence, Fred Ahern took his daughters out of pictures. Instead, he opened a dance studio, only blocks from MGM, called "Ahern's Allied Arts." There--besides dance styles such as ballet and tap--acrobatics, rope tricks, and music were taught. Ernest Belcher, Marge Champion's father, had been Lassie's dance instructor, and indeed she had been a trained dancer before the studio opened, amply showing off her skills in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Little Mickey Grogan. From 1932 to 1939, the sisters successfully toured the world together in a variety of venues, even appearing on screen (marvelous in 1937's Hollywood Party). Their act broke up when each sister decided to marry.
While Peggy permanently retired from performing, Lassie returned to Hollywood in 1941 with husband Johnny Brent, a former Dixieland drummer who was employed for years as a musician for studio orchestras. She danced in City of Lost Girls (1941) and in the early musicals Donald O'Connor made at Universal (1943's Top Man and Mister Big and 1945's Patrick the Great). She was effusive in her praise for O'Connor, openly regarding him as the finest performer she ever worked with. She was also nearly cast opposite Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943), and had a bit part with Joseph Cotten in George Cukor's Gaslight (1944). When she returned to the screen decades later, it was not on the big one but on television, in small parts in episodes of The Odd Couple; Love, American Style; and other popular series.
In middle age, she not only was a travel agent but for more than thirty years taught dance to generations of students at the Ashram Spa near San Diego, with Renee Zellweger and Cindy Crawford among her pupils. In the 1970s, while researching an upcoming role in which she was to be cast as a madam, Faye Dunaway approached Lassie for walking lessons because of her commanding posture.
Besides her late husband and sister, Lassie's half-brother Fred had also worked in the industry, notably as a production designer for Alfred Hitchcock in five pictures he made for the Master of Suspense from the period of Spellbound (1945) to Stage Fright (1950). Lassie leaves behind three children, Cary, Debra, and John. She told Crouse in 2013, "It's gratifying to experience such interest in my work from you and so many others from around the world. Fan letters, especially from Germany and Spain, still arrive at my mailbox at a rate that amazes me."
An original 35-mm nitrate copy of Little Mickey Grogan has been found in the Lobster Films Archive in Paris. Crouse and co-producer Eric Grayson are working to restore it. - Animation Department
- Writer
- Art Department
Dave Michener was born on 5 November 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a writer, known for The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Oliver & Company (1988) and Robin Hood (1973). He was married to Donna Roberta Burke. He died on 15 February 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
Pier Paolo Capponi was born on 9 June 1938 in Subiaco, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Naked Violence (1969), La piovra (1984) and Uomini della scienza (1977). He was married to Isabella Peretti. He died on 15 February 2018 in Torri in Sabina, Rieti, Italy.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Christian Rode was born on 20 July 1936 in Hamburg, Germany. He was an actor and writer, known for Faust (1960), Die Nibelungen 2. Teil - Kriemhilds Rache (1967) and Der Reformator (1968). He died on 15 February 2018 in Berlin, Germany.- Arthur J. Robinson was born on 8 June 1943 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Mr. Okra (2009), Benji (2018) and Spruce & Dante (2012). He died on 15 February 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
- Daniel Vernet was born on 21 May 1945 in Chamalières, Puy-de-Dôme, France. He was an actor, known for Sans rires (1990), Journalisten fragen - Politiker antworten (1963) and Die Freitagsrunde (1989). He died on 15 February 2018 in Paris, France.
- Febb As Young Mason was an actor, known for Rumchop feat. Knzz, Blasta & Febb as Young Mason: Style Wars (2013) and Fla$hbacks: Fla$hbacks (2014). He died on 15 February 2018 in Japan.
- Producer
- Executive
Bibi Ballandi was born on 26 June 1946 in Baricella, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a producer and executive, known for Satyricon (2001), Ballando con le stelle (2005) and Facciamo che io ero (2017). He was married to Lella. He died on 15 February 2018 in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.- Abdon Alinovi was born on 6 May 1923 in Eboli, Campania, Italy. He died on 15 February 2018 in Naples, Campania, Italy.
- Giampaolo Mele was born on 10 June 1944 in Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy. Giampaolo was a composer, known for Sa Femina Accabadora - La dama della buona morte (2018). Giampaolo died on 15 February 2018 in Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy.
- Luis Betancor was an actor, known for La inolvidable (1996), Reina de corazones (1998) and La mujer de Judas (2002). He died on 15 February 2018 in Macuto, Vargas, Venezuela.
- István Csörsz was born on 21 May 1942 in Baja, Hungary. István was a writer, known for Szerelem második vérig (1988). István was married to Anna Füri. István died on 15 February 2018 in Vác, Hungary.