RIP Stan Lee (1922 -2018) Nuff Said!

From Marvel Comics

“I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: entertainment is one of the most important things in people's lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end. I feel that if you're able to entertain, you're doing a good thing.” - Stan Lee

Today, Marvel Comics and The Walt Disney Company pause and reflect with great sadness on the passing of Marvel Chairman Emeritus, Stan Lee. With a heavy heart, we share our deepest condolences with his daughter and brother, and we honor and remember the creator, voice and champion of Marvel.

"Stan Lee was as extraordinary as the characters he created. A super hero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world, Stan had the power to inspire, to entertain, and to connect. The scale of his imagination was only exceeded by the size of his heart," said Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company.

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Steve Ditko The Father of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange Passes

This is very sad news, the man was a certified legend!

From The Radio Times:

Spider-Man co-creator and iconic comic-book artist Steve Ditko has died aged 90, it has been confirmed.

Ditko, who co-created Spider-Man and Doctor Strange with Stan Lee in the 1960s, was a legend in the industry, inspiring countless writers and artists with his imaginative creations and leaving a significant impact on popular culture to this day.

In his later years Ditko became a reclusive figure, known as the “J.D. Salinger of comics” as he usually refused interviews and declined to be involved with the comic-book publicity machine, even as he maintained writing and drawing until the end. He was found dead in his apartment on the 29th of June, and is believed to have died about two days earlier.

“Today, the Marvel family mourns the loss of Steve Ditko,” the company said in a statement.

“Steve transformed the industry and the Marvel Universe, and his legacy will never be forgotten. Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones, and fans during this sad time.”

While writer Lee came up with the concept for Spider-Man it was Ditko who devised the character’s look, iconic costume and web shooters, and he also designed the webslinger’s classic foes including Doctor Octopus, The Vulture, the Lizard and Green Goblin, and contributed to the plots as the series continued. Ditko and Lee’s run on the character lasted 38 monthly issues, and is now seen as a hugely influential period in comic-book history.

Ditko’s art, which imagined Spider-Man as a gawky, ungainly teen rather than the lantern-jawed heroes fans were used to was a revolution at the time, and hugely inspired the character’s development over the decades.

Following this, Ditko also co-created mystical hero Doctor Strange in 1963, with his psychedelic visual style for the character’s multi-dimensional world still lauded to this day and inspiring many later artists, as well as the recent Marvel films starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Ironically, the imagination on display in this series also won the staunchly conservative Ditko many fans within the US counterculture, who felt that the “trippy” visuals spoke to their experience of the world.

Ditko left Marvel in 1966 for unknown reasons, though it’s largely believed that he resented Lee for not sharing enough of the credit for the characters they worked on, tacitly alluding to this idea over the decades.

After Marvel Ditko worked for DC comics, Charlton and other independent publishers, creating characters including The Question, Mr A, Hawk and Dove and the Creeper. Many of his later creations were influenced by his social and political beliefs, which were derived from Ayn Rand’s objectivist philosophy.

However, he did return to Marvel in later years, and one of his latest creations was popular hero Squirrel Girl.

Still, it’s probably Spider-Man that Ditko will be best remembered for. Over the decades the character has since become one of the most famous pop-culture figures in the world, appearing in multiple blockbuster movies, cartoons and other media in the costume Ditko designed.

Ditko’s designs for Spidey’s villains, allies and general adventures have also continued to be a part of the culture, with one of his most famous panels – which sees a crushed Spider-Man find the inner strength to push immense fallen masonry off himself to save his loved ones – adapted for the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man: Homecoming just last year.

Both Spider-Man and Ditko’s other famous creation, Doctor Strange, also played key roles in this year’s Avengers: Infinity War, which continues to break box office records around the world.

Stephen J. Ditko was born in 1927 in Johnstown Pennsylvania, developing an interest in comics when characters like Batman and the Spirit debuted during his teens.

After joining and being discharged from the US Army, Ditko studied at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York in the 1950s, and began working for Marvel (then called Atlas comics) in 1955.

He is believed to have never married, and has no known survivors.

This article originally appeared on The Radio Times

"Ashes to Ashes, Funk to Funky" - David Bowie (1947 - 2016)

Legendary Artist David Bowie Dies at 69

David Bowie has died after a battle with cancer, his representative confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief,” read a statement posted on the artist’s official social media accounts.

The influential singer-songwriter and producer dabbled in glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his eclectic 40-plus-year career.

Bowie’s artistic breakthrough came with 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, an album that fostered the notion of rock star as space alien. Fusing British mod with Japanese kabuki styles and rock with theater, Bowie created the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

Three years later, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the No. 1 single “Fame” off the top 10 album Young Americans, then followed with the 1976 avant-garde art rock LP Station to Station, which made it to No. 3 on the charts and featured top 10 hit “Golden Years.”

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David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie (/ˈboʊ.i/), was an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, arranger, painter, and actor. Bowie was a figure in popular music for over four decades, and was known as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His androgynous appearance was an iconic element of his image, principally in the 1970s and 1980s.

Born and raised in South London, Bowie developed an early interest in music although his attempts to succeed as a pop star during much of the 1960s were frustrated. Bowie's first hit song, "Space Oddity", reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a three-year period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture". The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved to be one facet of a career marked by reinvention, musical innovation and visual presentation.



In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single "Fame" and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as "plastic soul". The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the electronic-inflected album Low, the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno. Low (1977), "Heroes" (1977), and Lodger (1979)—the so-called "Berlin Trilogy" albums—all reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes", its parent album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, which yielded several hit singles. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. He stopped touring after his 2003–04 Reality Tour, and last performed live at a charity event in 2006. Bowie released the studio album Blackstar on 8 January 2016, his 69th birthday, just two days before his death from liver cancer.

Bowie also had a successful, but sporadic film career. His acting roles include the eponymous character in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Jareth, the Goblin King in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. - Source



Bowie met dancer Lindsay Kemp in 1967 and enrolled in his dance class at the London Dance Centre. He commented in 1972 that meeting Kemp was when his interest in image "really blossomed". "He lived on his emotions, he was a wonderful influence. His day-to-day life was the most theatrical thing I had ever seen, ever. It was everything I thought Bohemia probably was. I joined the circus." Studying the dramatic arts under Kemp, from avant-garde theatre and mime to commedia dell'arte, Bowie became immersed in the creation of personae to present to the world. Satirising life in a British prison, meanwhile, the Bowie-penned "Over the Wall We Go" became a 1967 single for Oscar; another Bowie composition, "Silly Boy Blue", was released by Billy Fury the following year. In January 1968 Kemp choreographed a dance scene for a BBC play The Pistol Shot in the Theatre 625 series, and used Bowie with a dancer, Hermione Farthingale; the pair began dating, and moved into a London flat together. Playing acoustic guitar, Farthingale formed a group with Bowie and bassist John Hutchinson; between September 1968 and early 1969 the trio gave a small number of concerts combining folk, Merseybeat, poetry and mime. Bowie and Farthingale broke up in early 1969 when she went to Norway to take part in a film, Song of Norway; this had an impact on him, and several songs, such as "Letter to Hermione" and "Life on Mars?" reference her, and for the video accompanying "Where Are We Now?" he wore a T-shirt with the words "Song for Norway". They were last together in January 1969 for the filming of Love You till Tuesday, a 30-minute film, not released until 1984, intended as a vehicle to promote him, featuring performances from Bowie's repertoire, including an as yet unreleased "Space Oddity".

After the breakup with Farthingale, Bowie moved in with Mary Finnigan as her lodger. During this period he appeared in a Lyons Maid ice cream commercial, but was rejected for another by Kit Kat. In February and March 1969, he undertook a short tour with Marc Bolan's duo Tyrannosaurus Rex, as third on the bill, performing a mime act. On 11 July 1969, "Space Oddity" was released five days ahead of the Apollo 11 launch, to become a UK top five hit. Continuing the divergence from rock and roll and blues begun by his work with Farthingale, Bowie joined forces with Finnigan, Christina Ostrom and Barrie Jackson to run a folk club on Sunday nights at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street. Influenced by the Arts Lab Movement, this developed into the Beckenham Arts Lab, and became extremely popular. The Arts Lab hosted a free festival in a local park, the subject of his song "Memory of a Free Festival". Bowie's second album followed in November; originally issued in the UK as David Bowie, it caused some confusion with its predecessor of the same name, and the early US release was instead titled Man of Words/Man of Music; it was re-released internationally in 1972 by RCA as Space Oddity. Featuring philosophical post-hippie lyrics on peace, love and morality, its acoustic folk rock occasionally fortified by harder rock, the album was not a commercial success at the time of its release. - READ MORE

Remembering Yvonne Craig (1937 - 2015)

From Yvonne Craig's Official Website

Yvonne Craig passed away at her home in Pacific Palisades, surrounded by her immediate family and comforted by Hospice yesterday night. She died from complications brought about from breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver. She is survived by her husband, Kenneth Aldrich, her sister Meridel Carson and nephews Christopher and Todd Carson. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to: The Angeles Clinic Foundation by mail at 2001 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404 or by going into their website at www.theangelesclinicfoundation.org and following the “Donate” link.

Yvonne Craig began her theatrical career as the youngest member of The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and toured for three years when she was accidentally discovered by John Ford’s son Patrick and cast for the lead in the movie The Young Land.

This was quickly followed by many years of film and television including two movies with Elvis Presley (It Happened at the World’s Fair and Kissin Cousins). However, she is probably best known for originating the role as Batgirl in the 1966 TV series of Batman, or for her character “Marta” from the third season of Star Trek in the episode Whom God’s Destroy where she played the well remembered insane green Orion Slave Girl who wanted to kill Captain Kirk.

Over a span of years she appeared as a guest star in many television series, including The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Six Million Dollar Man,Land of the Giants, Mod Squad, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Love American Style, Emergency, and Courtship of Eddie’s Father just to name a few and worked opposite Bing Crosby, Sal Mineo, Don Knotts, George Hamilton, Dwayne Hickman, Dennis Hopper as well as Elvis Presley and James Coburn.  READ MORE

Two Rare Photos Of Leonard Nimoy

Written By: Ken Hulsey

While still trying to process the loss of the iconic television and movie actor Leonard Nimoy, I searched through my extensive collection of photographs and pulled out these two rare shots. To my knowledge neither of them have ever been published. The two photographs came from a set of images that I acquired from a company that worked on the original production of Star Trek.

The first photo is one of my favorites, it shows Nimoy in his role as the alternate universe Spock from the iconic episode "Mirror, Mirror".

Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015) - He Was Spock, He Was Not Spock

Written By: Ken Hulsey

Today I was very saddened when I learned that the iconic television and movie actor Leonard Nimoy had succumbed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the age of 83. Like many of you out there, my first taste of science fiction television came from Star Trek and Nimoy's character on the show, Spock, was always my favorite. It would be safe to say that he was in part responsible for spawning my life long love of the genre, which in turn spawned the website where you are reading this. Indeed my heart is heavy on learning that one of my favorite actors has passed on to his creator.

Nimoy was born on March 26, 1931 in Boston, Massachusetts to Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Soviet Union. He began acting at the tender age of eight at a local children's theater. Bitten by the acting bug he would later attend Boston College where he studied drama, though he never completed his studies.

In the early to mid fifties Leonard Nimoy landed small roles in several low-budget science fiction and western movies before he had a brief cameo in the iconic monster movie "Them!" in 1954. Nimoy's real bulk of work, pre Trek, consisted of more sci fi and westerns on television including appearances on The Twilight Zone, Sea Hunt, Colt .45, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Bonanza, Perry Mason, and The Outer Limits.

In 1965 Nimoy turned down a role on the soap opera Peyton Place to shoot a pilot called "The Cage" for yet another science fiction themed television program called Star Trek. Though NBC initially rejected Gene Roddenberry's cerebral vision of a prime time television series about space adventurers, the show was given yet another chance, in a more Joe public friendly format, and Nimoy was the only cast member from the original pilot invited back. As they say "the rest was history", we all know that Star Trek lasted a mere three seasons on television despite capturing legions of fans, many of them women who actually found Spock more sexy than his dashing counterpart Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner.

After Trek Nimoy was immediately hired on the spy series Mission: Impossible, in which he replaced actor Martin Landau. Nimoy was cast in the role of Paris, an IMF agent who was an ex-magician and make-up expert "The Great Paris." He played the role during seasons four and five (1969–71).

Though Mission: Impossible was a popular series it was his work on the show In Search of..., which was a documentary series about the paranormal, monsters, UFOs and other phenomena, that many fans remember fondly today.

Though many unsuccessful attempts were made to bring Star Trek back to primetime television, the show was in essence reborn as an animated series aimed at the young audience that made the series a huge success on afternoon syndicated television. All of the original cast members were brought in to voice there respective characters including Nimoy and his alter ego Spock.

In 1977 Nimoy wrote his first autobiography entitled "I am Not Spock" in 1975 where in the actor tried to tell the story of his life aside from his most famous television persona. The fans, to put it mildly, didn't welcome the memoirs with an open mind and in 1995 he wrote a follow-up book entitled "I am Spock". In this more fan friendly volume Nimoy actually had factious conversations with his half-Vulcan-half-human alter ego in the end coming to the summation that Spock was indeed a part of his soul ... and vice versa.

In the later years of Nimoy's career he would amass a very large resume of work both in front and behind the camera in both movies and television. He also had a very successful career as a theater actor staring in acclaimed roles in productions such as Fiddler on the Roof, The Man in the Glass Booth, Oliver!, 6 Rms Riv Vu, Full Circle, Camelot, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The King and I, Caligula, The Four Poster, Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes, Equus, and My Fair Lady.

As time passed from the seventies to the eighties and beyond Nimoy would again take on the Spock character in numerous movies and television adaptations culminating in JJ. Abrams' 2009 reimagining of Star Trek in which has passed the Spock torch on to actor Zachary Quinto.

Though Nimoy was known as an actor, director, writer, and producer he was also a renowned photographer and vocalist who produced numerous albums including Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space, Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy, The Way I Feel, The Touch of Leonard Nimoy, and The New World of Leonard Nimoy. He also had a minor hit song with the cult favorite "The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins" based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" books.

Leonard Nimoy's contribution to the fantasy and science fiction genre have made him an enduring pop culture icon who's true body of work has been an inspiration to, and will continue to inspire, actors and writers for generations to come. Ironically, through the character of Spock, Nimoy has in a sense become immortal and undoubtedly when mankind does "boldly go where no man has gone before" the character will travel with them. I can't imagine a future without Star Trek airing somewhere.

Famed James Bond villain Richard Kiel dies at 74

From Entertainment Weekly

Richard Kiel, whose towering height and distinctive baritone voice defined his nearly 50-year career in television and films, most notably as the steely toothed James Bond villain Jaws, died Wednesday afternoon in Fresno, Calif. at the age of 74, TMZ reports. The actor had been hospitalized after breaking his leg earlier in the week, but it is still unclear if that was related to his death.

Kiel’s rep did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

The Detroit-born Kiel, who grew to be 7 feet 1.5 inches, worked various odd jobs, including cemetery plot salesman and nightclub bouncer, before making his television debut at age 21 in the NBC Western Laramie. His roles were always at least partially defined by his extraordinary physicality, including in the schlocky 1962 B-movie Eegah, which got a bit of a cult boost after being featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, where Kiel played a giant caveman who falls for a California party girl he accidentally encounters in the desert. Kiel was also one of the top choices to play The Incredible Hulk—a role that would end up going to Lou Ferrigno after the producers decided they needed someone more muscular (and after Kiel had already filmed some of the pilot).

Kiel continued to score a number of memorable, if sometimes bit, roles including stints as villains in shows such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Wild Wild West and in films like The Longest Yard and Silver Streak. But Kiel would ultimately be defined by his role as Jaws, the metal-mouthed James Bond villain of the Roger Moore-era who first appeared in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me and was apparently so popular that they had him reprise his role in 1979’s Moonraker. Those famous teeth caused Kiel immense discomfort, though. “They were nauseating,” he told The Guardian in 2009. “They were up in the roof of your mouth and gave you a gagging effect – you felt like you were going to be sick. It did add to the stoic part of my character – to keep from throwing up.”

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Bob Casale, Founding Member Of Sci-Fi Rockers Devo, Dead At Age 61

From Contact Music

Devo vocalist and founder Bob Casale died Monday from “conditions that lead to heart failure,” the band has announced on their Facebook page. Casale was 61. Casale joined the band at its beginning, after Gerald Casale founded Devo with Mark Mothersbaugh when they were students at Kent State University in the early 1970s. Bob was recruited by his brother, along with Mothersbaugh’s brother, also named Bob (Casale was referred to as Bob 2 to differentiate).

Together, the four musicians crafted Devo’s signature synth pop and rock sound, mixing kitsch science fiction themes with social commentary and satire. Casale served as the band’s guitarist and keyboardist, while also helping in the production of many of the songs. He added the signature discordant keyboard to the band’s greatest hit – the 1980 single Whip It. Devo officially broke up in 1991, but continued to tour on and off for the following two decades. In 2010, the band released Something for Everybody, its first new album in 20 years.

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Farewell to the King of Grindhouse

From B Movie Nation

It’s a truly sad week for cult cinema. Mike Vraney, founder of the era-defining Something Weird Video, died Jan. 2 at the age of 56.

Vraney’s importance in the preservation and celebration of exploitation, grindhouse, drive-in and z-grade movies can not be overestimated.

For music fans, the Pacific Northwest native may be most famous as a cofounder of Seattle’s The Showbox, and later as manager of punk bands including The Dead Kennedys, TSOL, and The Accused. But it was a film fanatic – in the truest and deepest sense of the words – that he made his biggest impact.

As a teenager, he worked in the Bel-Kirk Drive-In in Bellevue, Washington, then became a projectionist at Seattle’s Green Parrot Theater (a notorious 24/7 grindhouse and x-rated theater) and the Apple Theatre.

Then in the early 1990s he started hunting down prints: The obscure, the erotic, the exotic, the sleazy and the scary. It began with a collection of 16mm girlie arcade loops, which he edited together to form one of the company’s first compilation releases. As Vraney told the Chronicle in 2001, “I came up with titles and screened ‘em, thinking, ‘Boy, none of this is on tape, like naked girls just walking around on rocks in 1952.’”

After that first haul, he was lucky enough to get access to the archives of exploitation king Dave Friedman. That was just the beginning, as he unearthed over 2,500 titles. The massive collection he gathered and transferred to video and then digital became the Something Weird archive.

These were films that no-one cared about. Rough, often amateurish, scarcely likely to make it into the Cahiers du Cinema. But to Vraney they were “very pop culture, Americana, adult-oriented but soft, not hardcore, fascinating stuff.” He championed them, and gave them the life they deserved. He kept them on screens.

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In Valen's Name!

Source: Craveonline.com

The original captain of Babylon 5 has joined G'Kar, Steven Franklin and Zack Allen on the journey to join the first ones. That is to say that Michael O'Hare has joined fellow Babylon 5 actors Andreas Katsulas, Richard Biggs, and Jeff Conaway   as the fourth such actor to pass away unexpectedly. O'Hare died today from complications stemming from a recent heart attack.

Here is the story:

Earlier today, former “Babylon 5” star Michael O'Hare died from complications stemming from a heart attack he recently suffered. He was 60 years old.

The news was broken on the Facebook page of “Babylon 5” creator J. Michael Straczynski, who wrote “I regret that I must convey the sad news that Michael O'Hare passed away today. He suffered a heart attack on Sunday and was in a coma until his passing this afternoon. This is a terrible loss for all B5 fans and everyone involved with the show wishes to convey their condolences to the O'Hare family. He was an amazing man.”

O'Hare is best remembered for his role as Commander Jeffrey Sinclair on the first season of “Babylon 5.” O'Hare departed the series before the second season began, but he eventually went on to reprise his role in three episodes that wrapped up Sinclair’s storyline.

Outside of “Babylon 5,” O’Hare had appeared in several TV series, including “One Life to Live,” “Trapper John, M.D.,” “The Equalizer,” “Law & Order,” “L.A. Law” and “Tales from the Darkside.” O'Hare was also an accomplished performer on Broadway and he originated the role of Col. Jessup in the stage version of A Few Good Men before Jack Nicholson took the part in the film adaptation.

- Craveonline

Happy Birthday Tura Satana

Written By: Ken Hulsey

What a better way is there to celebrate what would have been the 74th birthday of the B movie vixen with the dangerous curves Tura Satana then a bio, video montage and photo gallery.

(From Wikipedia)

Tura Satana (July 10, 1938 – February 4, 2011) was an American actress and former exotic dancer. She was best known for her role as "Varla" in Russ Meyer's 1965 cult film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

During her early career, Satana appeared on television shows such as Burke's Law, The Greatest Show On Earth, Hawaiian Eye, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. She also appeared as a dancer in Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? with Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery. That same year, she had a cameo as a Parisian prostitute in the musical Irma La Douce with Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine.

After starring in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Satana worked mainly with cult film director Ted V. Mikels in such films as The Astro-Zombies (1968), The Doll Squad (1974) and Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002). She has also appeared as herself in various documentaries and TV shows including The Incredibly Strange Film Show (1988), A & E's documentary called "Cleavage"(2003), Strip de velours (2005) and Sugar Boxx (2007) which is currently in post production and co-stars fellow Russ Meyer alumna Kitten Natividad.

Please visit - http://www.facebook.com/tsatana

and - The Official Tura Satana Memorial Website

See Also: A Tribute To Tura Satana (1938 - 2011) /100 Most Popular (Sexiest) Women In Movies, TV, SciFi And Fantasy #71- #80 /Celluloid Philosophers - Varla / Ted Mikels' Grindhouse Reunion - Vegas Style! / Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)(Russ Meyer)

A Tribute To Elisabeth Sladen (1946-2011)

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: BBC / Wikipedia

I feel really bad that I didn't get a chance to touch on the untimely death of actress Elisabeth Sladen last week. Sladen was best known for her role of Sarah Jane Smith, a companion to the iconic Doctor from the UK sci fi TV series "Doctor Who". Though the Doctor has had numerous companions over the decades, Sladen's Sarah Jane was by far the most beloved by fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

The character of Sarah Jane Smith was so popular in fact that two "Doctor Who" spin-off series where created to feature her, one the short-lived "K-9 and Company" and the other "The Sarah Jane Adventures" has been airing on the BBC since 2007.

Here is a press release from the BBC on Sladen's passing:

Last night (Tuesday) with much sadness the BBC announced Elisabeth Sladen, the much-loved actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in Doctor Who and CBBC's The Sarah Jane Adventures, had passed away. She was 63.

Lis first appeared as Sarah Jane in Doctor Who in 1973 alongside the Third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, and stayed for three and half seasons working alongside Jon and the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. She returned to the role on numerous occasions over the years and, in 2007, was given her own spin-off series on CBBC – The Sarah Jane Adventures – where she would appear alongside new Doctors David Tennant and Matt Smith.

The Sarah Jane Adventures brought Lis a whole new generation of fans who grew up to love her alien-busting adventures. The series was hugely popular with fans young and old and won this year's RTS Award for best children's drama.

Controller of CBBC Damian Kavanagh said last night: "I'm deeply saddened and shocked by the news of Lis' untimely death. Lis brought joy, excitement and a sense of wonder to her many fans in her role as Sarah Jane Smith. She was adored by our young audience and I know all of them will miss her as much as I will."

The creator of The Sarah Jane Adventures Russell T Davies said: "I absolutely loved Lis. She was funny and cheeky and clever and just simply wonderful. The universe was lucky to have Sarah Jane Smith; the world was lucky to have Lis."

Steven Moffat, Doctor Who's lead writer and executive producer said: "'Never meet your heroes' wise people say. They weren't thinking of Lis Sladen.

"Sarah Jane Smith was everybody's hero when I was younger, and as brave and funny and brilliant as people only ever are in stories. But many years later, when I met the real Sarah-Jane – Lis Sladen herself – she was exactly as any child ever have wanted her to be. Kind and gentle and clever; and a ferociously talented actress, of course, but in that perfectly English unassuming way.

“There are a blessed few who can carry a whole television show on their talent and charisma – but I can't think of one other who's done it quite so politely. I once showed my son Joshua an old episode of Doctor Who, in which Lis appeared. 'But that's Sarah Jane,' he said, confused, 'In old Doctor Who. From years ago. How come she always look exactly the same?' It's not a comfort today, of course, but children will still be saying that 50 years from now."

Matt Smith said: "What struck me about Lis was her grace. She welcomed me, educated me, and delighted me with her tales and adventures on Doctor Who. And she also seemed to have a quality of youth that not many people retain as they go through life. Her grace and kindness will stay with me because she had such qualities in abundance and shared them freely. I will miss her, as will the world of Doctor Who and all the Doctors that had the good pleasure to work with Lis Sladen and travel the universe with Sarah Jane."

David Tennant said: "I just can't believe that Lis is gone. She seemed invincible. The same woman who enchanted my childhood, enchanted my time on Doctor Who and enchanted generations who have watched her and fallen in love with her – just like I did. I feel very honoured to have shared a TARDIS with Sarah Jane Smith, and I feel very lucky to have shared some time with Lis Sladen. She was extraordinary."

Keith Jones, Director, BBC Cymru Wales, said: "The Sarah Jane Adventures has been one of the most successful children's programmes on television in recent years – and without Elisabeth Sladen it would not have happened. A brilliant presence on screen and on set, she brought the excitement and energy of the Doctor Who family of programmes, of which we are very proud at BBC Wales, to a whole new generation. She will be missed by all at BBC Wales who worked with her."

Roger Carey, who represented Lis for many years, said: "She was not just a client, but a dear friend. She was so positive about life and her natural energy was intoxicating. She couldn't believe her luck when her career was resurrected in her own series."

Lis had been suffering from cancer. She leaves behind a husband, actor Brian Miller, and her daughter, Sadie.

Here is her bio from Wikipedia:

Sladen was the only child of Tom Sladen, who fought in World War I and served in the Home Guard during World War II. Her mother Gladys' maiden name was Trainor, which is a Northern Irish name commonly seen in Liverpool.

Sladen developed an interest in performing at an early age, beginning dance lessons when she was five, and dancing in one production with the Royal Ballet. She was a primary school contemporary of future politician Edwina Currie (née Cohen), appearing in at least one school production with her; and a grammar school contemporary of Peter Goldsmith, the future Attorney-General, when both attended Quarry Bank School (now Calderstones School).

After attending drama school for two years, Sladen began work at the Liverpool Playhouse repertory company as an assistant stage manager. Her first stage appearance was as a corpse. However, she was scolded for giggling on stage, thanks to a young actor, Brian Miller, whispering the words, "Respiration nil, Aston Villa two" in her ear while he was playing a doctor. Sladen was so good as an assistant stage manager that she did not get many acting roles, a problem she solved by deliberately making mistakes on several occasions. This got her told off again, but she started to get more on-stage roles.

Sladen made her first, uncredited, screen appearance in 1965 in the film Ferry Cross the Mersey as an extra.

Sladen eventually moved into weekly repertory work, travelling around to various locations in England. Sladen and Miller, now married, moved to Manchester, spending three years there. She appeared in numerous roles, most notably as Desdemona in Othello, her first appearance as a leading lady. She also got the odd part on Leeds Radio and Granada Television, eventually appearing as a barmaid in 1970 in six episodes of the long-running soap opera Coronation Street. In 1971, Sladen was in two episodes of Z-Cars. Then, in 1972, she was appearing in a play that moved down to London, and they had to move along with it. Her first television role in London was as a terrorist in an episode of Doomwatch. This was followed by guest roles in Z-Cars (again),^[7] Public Eye, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Special Branch.

In 1973, Doctor Who actress Katy Manning, who was playing the Third Doctor's assistant Jo Grant opposite Jon Pertwee, was leaving the series. Producer Barry Letts was growing increasingly desperate in his search for a replacement, when Z-Cars producer Ron Craddock gave Sladen an enthusiastic recommendation.

Sladen arrived at the audition not knowing it was for the new companion role, and was amazed at Letts's thoroughness. She was introduced to Pertwee, whom she found intimidating at the time. As she chatted with Letts and Pertwee, each time she turned to look at one of them the other would signal a thumbs-up. She was offered and accepted the part of investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith.

She stayed on Doctor Who for three and a half seasons, alongside Pertwee as the Third Doctor and Tom Baker as the Fourth, receiving both popular and critical acclaim for her role as Sarah Jane. When she left the series, in the 1976 serial The Hand of Fear, it made front page news,^{[citation needed]} where previously only a change of Doctors had received such attention. In October, 2009, Sladen paid tribute to her boss and friend, Barry Letts, after he died. She said Letts was her closest friend on Doctor Who.

Sladen returned to the character of Sarah Jane Smith on numerous occasions. In 1981, new Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner asked her to return to the series to ease the transition between Tom Baker and new Doctor Peter Davison. She declined but accepted his second offer of doing a pilot for a spin-off series called K-9 and Company, co-starring K-9, the popular robot dog from Doctor Who. However, the pilot was not picked up for a series. Two years later Sladen appeared in the 20th anniversary special The Five Doctors.

She reprised the role in the 1993 Children in Need special Dimensions in Time, and in the 1995 independently produced video Downtime alongside former co-star Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield. This was her last on-screen appearance as Sarah Jane Smith for some time.

Sladen played Sarah Jane in several audio plays. Two of them were produced for BBC Radio, The Paradise of Death (Radio 5, 1993), and The Ghosts of N-Space (Radio 2, 1996), together with Jon Pertwee and Nicholas Courtney. Big Finish Productions has also produced two series of Sarah Jane Smith audio adventures set in the present day, released in 2002 and 2006. Her daughter Sadie has also appeared in the audios.

In later years, Sladen had also participated re-visiting a few classic Doctor Who serials on DVD in doing audio commentaries and interviews (in the stories she starred in), but as of 2008 she stated in an interview that she was no longer doing them due to "contractual reasons with 2entertain".

Following the successful revival of Doctor Who in 2005, Sladen guest starred as Sarah Jane in "School Reunion", an episode of the 2006 series, along with John Leeson, who returned as the voice of the robot dog K-9, and David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. Sladen was ever faithful to the character and worked a lot of the characterisation herself, in the lead-up to the broadcast of "School Reunion" she was quoted in The Daily Mirror as saying: "Sarah Jane used to be a bit of a cardboard cut-out. Each week it used to be, 'Yes Doctor, no Doctor', and you had to flesh your character out in your mind — because if you didn't, no one else would." She also spoke favourably of the characterisation in the new series.

Following her successful appearance in the series, Sladen later starred in The Sarah Jane Adventures, a Doctor Who spin-off focusing on Sarah Jane, produced by BBC Wales for CBBC and created by Russell T Davies. A 60-minute special aired on New Year's Day 2007, with a 10-episode series commencing broadcast in September 2007. The programme was nominated for a prestigious Royal Television Society award and was recommissioned for a second 12-episode series which was broadcast in late 2008. The third series was broadcast in Autumn 2009, and again achieved audience ratings well in excess of the usual average figures for the time slot (sometimes even double). A fourth season began airing in October 2010.

Sladen also read two original audio stories for The Sarah Jane Adventures, which were released in November 2007 on CD: The Glittering Storm by Stephen Cole and The Thirteenth Stone by Justin Richards. This was the first time that BBC Audiobooks have commissioned new content for exclusive release on audio. Two new audio stories ("Ghost House" and "Time Capsule") were released in November 2008, both read again by Sladen.

Sladen appeared in the final two episodes of Doctor Who’s 2008 series (season 4) finale "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" and was credited in the title sequence of both episodes. Her final appearance in Doctor Who was a cameo in the concluding part of "The End of Time", Tennant's last episode as the Doctor.

After Doctor Who, Sladen returned to Liverpool with her husband and performed in a series of plays. This included a two-hander with Miller in Moonie and his Caravans. Notable appearances following that include a two-year stint as a presenter for the children's programme Stepping Stones, a lead role with Miller playing her husband in ITV drama Send In The Girls, a BBC Play For Today, a role as a stand-up comic's spouse in Take My Wife, and a small part in the movie Silver Dream Racer as a bank secretary in 1980, only her second motion picture appearance. In 1981, former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts cast her as the female lead in the BBC Classics production of Gulliver in Lilliput.

She continued to appear in various advertisements and in another Letts production, Alice in Wonderland (playing the Dormouse), as well as attending conventions in the United States. After the birth of her daughter Sadie Miller in 1985, Sladen went into semi-retirement, placing her family first, but finding time for the occasional television appearance. In 1995, she played Dr Pat Hewer in 4 episodes of Peak Practice. In 1996, she played Sophie in Faith in the Future, and appeared in 15 episodes of the BBC schools programme Numbertime, which was repeated annually for around ten years. This was her last television acting appearance until the 2006 Doctor Who episode "School Reunion".

In 1991, she starred as Alexa opposite Colin Baker in The Stranger audio adventure The Last Mission for BBV Audio. Sladen also appeared in a Bernice Summerfield audio drama, Kate Orman's Walking to Babylon.

In 2008–09, Sladen appeared in a panto production of Peter Pan at the Theatre Royal Windsor, playing Mrs. Darling and a beautiful mermaid.

See Also: Matt Smith And Karen Gillan Talk About DOCTOR WHO And Filming In America / UK Students To Create New DOCTOR WHO Adventure / Doctor Who Flight Controlled TARDIS Vehicle / New DOCTOR WHO Online Fan Group Launches / Doctor Who - 10th Doctor (David Tennant) - Collage T-Shirt / The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television #21 - #30 / The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television #31 - #40 / The Next Season Of DOCTOR WHO Will Be Split In Two - Will Have A Mid-Season Cliffhanger / Daleks The Greatest Monsters Ever? Proof Positive That The Brits Don't Know Their Creatures / Doctor Who Visual Dictionary Updated 10th Edition Book / Johnny Depp Confirmed As The Big Screen Doctor? / Doctor Who vs The Yeti - Merry Christmas! / New Toy Wednesday! - 11 Doctors, Limited Edition Spock Kit, Gundam, Vampirella And Some Killer Anime Cleavage! / New Toy Tuesday! Classic Star Trek vs Classic Doctor Who, A Slave Girl & The Creature! / Karen Gillan Talks About Playing Amy Pond On Doctor Who / Doctor Who To Make A 'Whistle-Stop' Tour Of The UK / A New Doctor - A New Logo / John Simm Promises That Tennant's Doctor Will Get A 'Brilliant Send-Off' / A Sneak Peek At The The Ultimate Monster Guide And Other Doctor Who Tidbits / 'Four Weddings And A Funeral' Scribe Richard Curtis To Write For Doctor Who / The Name Is 'Who'......'Doctor Who' / Doctor Who Black And White Action Figures - Second Doctor & Cyberman / The First Look At The Animated Doctor Who From Dreamland / Doctor Who Star David Tennant Sends 'Postcard' From America / Doctor Who - Filming Begins For The 11th Doctor / Doctor Who: The Waters Of Mars - Sneak Preview

A Tribute To Tura Satana (1938 - 2011)

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: NY Times

The cult movie genre lost one of it's most infamous icons on Friday when actress Tura Satana passed away from heart failure. The 73-year-old actress was the star of some of the most notable independent films of the 1960s and 70s including "The Astro Zombies", "The Doll Squad" and "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!". Satana's portrayal of Varla in the Russ Meyer film would forever establish the Japanese born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi (Real Name) as a pop culture icon.

To say that Satana lead a full and colorful life would be an understatement. As a young woman she had to endure the tribulation of being held in a Japanese internment camp in California. At thirteen she began a career as an exotic dancer after she developed the curvy figure that helped propel her to stardom. After that she became a nude model and then actress. At one point she even dated Elvis and turned down his marriage proposal.

In later life Satana continued to act and enjoyed interaction with her legions of fans at conventions and special appearances.

According to Tura's long-time manager Siouxzan Perry a memorial service will be held on July 10th which would have been her 74th birthday.

Fans by the hudreds have been leaving heart-felt messages of love for Tura on her Facebook page. If you would like to express your feelings about her life and career you can do so at: http://www.facebook.com/tsatana

Here is Tura Satana's bio (From Wikipedia):

Tura Satana (July 10, 1938 – February 4, 2011) was a Japanese-born American actress and former exotic dancer. She was best known for her role as "Varla" in Russ Meyer's 1965 cult film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

Satana was born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi in Hokkaidō, Japan. Her father was a silent movie actor of Japanese and Filipino descent, and her mother was a circus performer of American Indian (Cheyenne) and Scots-Irish background. After the end of World War II and a stint in the Manzanar internment camp in Lone Pine, California, she and her family moved to the Westside of Chicago. She developed breasts very early and, despite being an excellent student, was constantly harassed for her figure and Asian heritage. Walking home from school at the age of nine she was gang raped by five men. Her attackers were never prosecuted and it was rumored that the judge had been paid off. This prompted her to learn the martial arts of aikido and karate and, over the next 15 years, track down each rapist and exact revenge. "I made a vow to myself that I would someday, somehow get even with all of them," she said years later. "They never knew who I was until I told them."

Because of the rape and the bribed judge, she was sent to reform school as a teenager and became the leader of a gang. In an interview with Psychotronic Video, she said, "We had leather motorcycle jackets, jeans and boots and we kicked butt." At 13, she was married in Hernando, Mississippi, a short-lived union arranged by her parents and the family of her 17-year-old groom.

Satana then came to Los Angeles at age 13 with a fake ID and tried her hand at blues singing. When that failed, she started modeling as a bathing suit photography model and posed nude for the silent screen comic Harold Lloyd, who did not know she was underage. Lloyd told Satana she should be in films because she was photogenic. While working as a photographic model, Satana contracted makeup poisoning and could not wear any makeup due to the ensuing skin erosions. She returned to Chicago to live with her parents and started dancing. Satana danced at the Club Rendevouz in Calumet City, Illinois, where she was known as Galatea, the Statue that Came to Life. She was offered a raise to become a stripper. She eventually became a successful exotic dancer, traveling from city to city and working with Rose Le Rose, Maxine Martin, The Skyscraper Girl, Tempest Storm, Candy Barr and Stunning Smith the Purple Lady. Satana credited Lloyd with giving her the confidence to pursue a career in show business: "I saw myself as an ugly child." Mr. Lloyd said, "You have such a symmetrical face, the camera loves your face... you should be seen." Because of her dancing, her face, and her figure, she was ultimately voted one of the 10 Best Undressed Burlesque Dancers of the 20th Century by Bill Hanna of Hanna-Barbera.

At 19, Satana got pregnant, but continued dancing for the next eight months, earning a typical weekly salary of about $1,500

During her early career, Satana appeared on television shows such as Burke's Law, The Greatest Show On Earth, Hawaiian Eye, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. She also appeared as a dancer in Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? with Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery. That same year, she had a cameo as a Parisian prostitute in the musical Irma La Douce with Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine.

After starring in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Satana worked mainly with cult film director Ted V. Mikels in such films as The Astro-Zombies (1968), The Doll Squad (1974) and Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002). She has also appeared as herself in various documentaries and TV shows including The Incredibly Strange Film Show (1988), A & E's documentary called "Cleavage"(2003),Strip de velours (2005) and Sugar Boxx (2007) which is currently in post production and co-stars fellow Russ Meyer alumna Kitten Natividad.

After making Ted V. Mikels' The Doll Squad in 1973, Satana was shot by a former lover. She later found employment in a hospital, a position she kept for four years. She had studied nursing at Firmin Deloos Hospital. She was then briefly employed as a dispatcher for the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1981, her back was broken in a car accident. She spent the next two years in and out of hospitals, having two major operations and approximately fifteen others.

Satana dated Elvis Presley but turned down his marriage proposal, though she did keep the ring. Satana married a retired Los Angeles police officer in 1981, and remained married until her husband died in October 2000. She has two daughters from a previous relationship. Her older daughter Kalani had a cameo role in Mikels' Ten Violent Women. She had remained friends with Mikels till her death.

Tura Satana Photos:

See Also: 100 Most Popular (Sexiest) Women In Movies, TV, SciFi And Fantasy #71- #80 / Celluloid Philosophers - Varla / Ted Mikels' Grindhouse Reunion - Vegas Style! / Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)(Russ Meyer)

A Tribute To Anne Francis (1930 - 2011)

Written By: Ken Hulsey

The death of the iconic movie and television actress Anne Francis has shaken me to the core.

It's not just the fact that I was a huge fan of the actress who is known for her roles in the classic sci fi film "Forbidden Planet", the lesser known TV series "Honey West", the legendary series "Twilight Zone" and numerous other roles spanning five decades.

No, it not just the fact that Hollywood has lost one of it's true beauties that has me "shaken", it is the time and date of her death. Call it some kind of cosmic connection, call it a coincidence, but on the same day that Francis passed my wife and I were watching an old VHS tape of "Twilight Zone" episodes that included "Jess-Belle". You may remember that in that episode of the sci fi anthology Francis played the title character, a hillbilly girl who sold her soul to a back woods witch to win the heart of a young man who was betrothed to another.

Upon viewing the episode we both wondered if Francis was still with us and where she may be.? We also pulled out a copy of "Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone", an excellent book by Stewart T. Stanyard (See Below), and read a interview with the actress about her role in "Jess-Belle" and also "The After Hours".

I had even pondered trying to contact the actress about a possible interview.

Imagine my shock today when I learned that Francis had passed? The news really hit me hard, then after thinking about it, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Could it have been possible that Francis had died at about the same time that my wife and I were watching her on television or reading about her?

The whole thing was just too eerie for me.

Being a huge fan of Anne Francis I felt compelled to compose this tribute, heck, maybe due to these strange coincidences I was destined to put this whole thing together?

Here is a bio of Anne Francis from Wikipedia:

Anne Lloyd Francis was born in Ossining, New York in 1930, the only child of Philip and Edith Francis. Francis entered show business at a young age, working as a model at age five to help her family during the Great Depression, and made her Broadway debut at the age of 11.

Over her career, Francis appeared in scores of TV shows and movies. She made her film debut in This Time for Keeps (1947). In her early film career, she played supporting roles in films such as: Susan Slept Here, So Young So Bad, and Bad Day at Black Rock. Her first leading role was in Blackboard Jungle (1955). She is perhaps best-known on film for her role as Altaira in the science fiction movie Forbidden Planet. "Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet" is a line in the song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, large numbers of whose audience sing the line without ever having seen Forbidden Planet.

Francis found success in television, with several appearances on The Twilight Zone, including the title character in "Jess-Belle" and as Marsha White in "The After Hours." She was a frequent guest star in 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s TV movies and programs. She appeared in two episodes of the popular TV western The Virginian.

In 1964, Francis guest starred in two episodes, "Hideout" and "Rachel's Mother", of the CBS short-lived drama The Reporter. She made two successive appearances in 1964 in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. series. In 1965, Francis turned to series television and was cast as Honey West, a sexy private detective with a pet ocelot. The character was initially introduced on the popular ABC series Burke's Law. She made a guest appearance along with Charles Bronson in a 1967 episode of The Fugitive opposite David Janssen. She played one of the leading roles in Funny Girl in 1968 and one year later, played Nancy Ingersoll, the wife of Jerry Lewis character in the comedy Hook, Line and Sinker. In 1971, at the start of the final season of My Three Sons, she played bowling alley waitress Terri Dowling who eventually married Laird Fergus McBain Douglas of Sithian Bridge, Scotland and returned to his homeland as royalty. (Fred MacMurray played the dual character roles of Steve Douglas and Fergus McBain Douglas in this four part story arc).

During the 1980–1981 season of Dallas, Francis had a recurring role as Arliss Cooper, the mother of Mitch and Afton Cooper. She later played "Mama Jo" in the 1984 TV-detective series Riptide.^[3] She made an appearance in Matlock, another popular detective series; and in The Golden Girls as Truvy McMann, Dorothy's friend from college. In 1989 and 1990 she starred in several episodes of Murder, She Wrote. Her most recent television appearance was on a 2004 episode of the CBS series Without a Trace.

And here is some info on the series "Honey West":

Honey West is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC during the 1965-1966 television season. The series stars Anne Francis as female private detective Honey West.

The Honey West character was created by Gloria and Forrest E. "Skip" Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling" in the late 1950s. West was one of the first female "private eyes" to ever appear on television. Francis first played West in the Second Season (Episode #2) of Burke's Law entitled "Who Killed the Jackpot?", broadcast on April 2, 1965, which led to this series being commissioned as a spin-off.

In the series, West had a partner and man-Friday "Sam" (John Ericson, who had played the Francis character's brother Pete in Bad Day at Black Rock), who usually stayed in the background or sat in their high-tech surveillance van talking to Honey via a radio hidden in her lipstick case. Her alluring feline qualities were reflected by her animal-print wardrobe and decor. She also kept an exotic pet ocelot named Bruce (in one episode, the African series Daktari was showing on Honey's TV set, and Honey said "Oh Bruce, why do we always have to watch your show?"). For sneaking around at night and engaging in energetic fight scenes, she wore a black fabric bodystocking reminiscent of Emma Peel's leather jumpsuit. Like Peel's Lotus Elan sports car, Honey's similar-looking AC Cobra convertible also emphasized her independence and vitality. Although the racy content of the novels was excised for television, West often went on solo undercover missions that required a provocative or revealing outfit. She also used a number of James Bond-type gimmicks: an exploding compact, a garter-belt gas mask, and tear-gas earrings. West was also a black-belt in Judo, as was her partner, Sam.

In her own words:

Earlier is this piece I talked about Anne's appearance in the classic episode of the "Twilight Zone" entitled "The After Hours" for which she later reminisced about in the book "Dimensions Behind the Twilight Zone" by Stewart T. Stanyard (See Below):

"I loved it. My first impression was what fun it was going to be to play that role. The humor in the beginning. The spaciness of each little step that took place, sort of just a little bit off-center until the horror begins for this young woman who has absolutely no memory at all of who she is or why she's on the ninth floor. The progression of that character was a lot of fun.

And then about the episode "Jess-Belle":

"(In) This one, we were able to indulge more in the different characters. Like Jeanette Nolan as the witch was wonderful, and she had her great scenes. And Jimmy (Best) as the innocent young man who is tormented really with these two women - the darkness of Jess-Belle and the spell of Jess-Belle, and the other woman, the sweet woman that really should be his love. But every time Jess-Belle was around, her spirit invaded him. There was more time to play with these emotions (referring to the fact that the episode was an hour long) and characters, and sit back and see how all of them were tormented in their own way. Except for the witch. I've told Earl (Hammer) I want to play the witch in his musical version. and he said 'No, I want you to do Jess-Belle.' But I think that it would be such fun to play the witch. With all the little potions, and wear the wonderful crazy nose and put warts on and the wild hair..."

This is from People.com:

Anne Francis, a sweet-voiced honey blonde who starred as a sexy Jane Bond-type detective on TV's Honey West in the mid-'60s and was a CinemaScope eyeful in the '50s sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, died Sunday of complications of pancreatic cancer at a retirement home in Santa Barbara, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 80.

With a distinctive beauty mark below her lower right lip, Francis, though never a top-ranking star, always had her devoted cult followers. Among her better-known movies were Bad Day at Black Rock, Blackboard Jungle, Don't Go Near the Water and Funny Girl, though in that last picture she claimed her best scenes ended up on the cutting-room floor. She played a Ziegfeld Girl gal pal of headliner Fanny Brice, played by Barbra Streisand.

In Forbidden Planet Francis was Altaira, the daughter of the space scientist played by Walter Pidgeon."I got that part because I was under contract to MGM and I had good legs," Francis later said. Her love interest in the movie was a handsome young Leslie Nielsen, who died in November.

A native of Ossining, N.Y., the former child actress went to Hollywood and signed contracts with the studios in the '40s, but her career finally took hold in the next decade thanks to live-TV productions. She is survived by two daughters and a grandson.