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R.I.P. Steve Weiss

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday March 22, 2013 @ 6:33pm PDTTags: R.I.P., Steve Weiss
Nellie Andreeva

Steve WeissLongtime William Morris agent Steve Weiss died today after a battle with cancer. Weiss comes from a long WMA lineage — his father, Lou Weiss, was longtime chairman and chairman emeritus of the agency. As fate would have it, today is Lou’s 95th birthday. Steve Weiss started at WMA in 1971 when he enrolled in the training program and landed in the mailroom. He spent 35 years at WMA, rising to VP and top literary and packaging agent who represented A-list writers and packaged numerous TV series and TV movies, including Murphy Brown, whose creator Diane English was among his clients. Former colleagues of Weiss, who left WMA several years ago to become a manager, describe him as a kindhearted man and a gentle soul who embodied the old-school hospitality and principals of WMA. In addition to his father, Weiss is survived by his mother, Alice; his wife, Amy Weiss, manager at Brillstein Entertainment; three children and several grandchildren as well as three siblings — brothers Evan Weiss, manager at The Collective, and Jeff Weiss, and sister Ann Weiss as well as brother-in-law, screenwriter Richard LaGravenese. In a 1997 interview, Steve was asked about his formula for a good agent-writer relationship. “Open communication… honesty,” he said. “I don’t give my clients false hope or make vacant promises. I have a policy of being honest.”

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R.I.P. Eli Richbourg

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 7:13pm PDTTags: Eli Richbourg, R.I.P.

R.I.P. Eli RichbourgWriter, producer, and longtime Joel Schumacher collaborator Eli Richbourg suffered a brain aneurism in Paris Wednesday night, Deadline has confirmed. He was 42. Richbourg got his start in the art department on Schumacher’s Batman Forever, became his assistant on A Time To Kill, and rewrote many of the director’s films. He rose to second unit director on 8MM, associate produced Flawless, and directed second unit and served as associate producer on Tigerland, Bad Company, Phone Booth, and Veronica Guerin. He co-produced Phantom Of The Opera and executive produced The Number 23 and Blood Creek. Richbourgh’s 2001 short Calvin Stoller: The Last Abstract Expressionist was executive produced by Schumacher.
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R.I.P. Tim Hampton

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday March 20, 2013 @ 3:22am PDTTags: R.I.P., Tim Hampton

Producer and studio executive Tim Hampton passed away earlier this month, his family has revealed. He was 65. Hampton’s early career included work as a production or location manager on movies including The Most Dangerous Man In The … Read More »

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R.I.P. Frank Thornton

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday March 18, 2013 @ 2:10pm PDTTags: Are You Being Served?, Frank Thornton, R.I.P.

Brit Frank Thornton, who played Captain Peacock in the long-running TV sitcom Are You Being Served? has died at his home in London. He was 92. Thornton played mainly comedic roles during his decades-long career, including … Read More »

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R.I.P. Robert Relyea

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday March 8, 2013 @ 1:35pm PSTTags: R.I.P., Robert Relyea

Robert RelyeaVeteran producer Robert Relyea, whose career spanned more than 40 years, died Tuesday at age 82. Born in Santa Monica, CA, Relyea started as an entry level crew member with MGM in 1955, eventually moving on … Read More »

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R.I.P. Russell Cawthorne

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday March 4, 2013 @ 8:52pm PSTTags: R.I.P., Russell Cawthorne

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney.

Russell Cawthorne, who worked on dozens of Hong Kong movies produced by Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest, died from cancer at a palliative care unit near his home in Melbourne … Read More »

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R.I.P. Armando Trovajoli

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday March 3, 2013 @ 10:18am PSTTags: Armando Trovajoli, R.I.P.

Prolific Italian film score composer and jazz pianist Armando Trovajoli has died in Rome, his widow Mariapaola announced yesterday. Trovajoli’s date of death has not been confirmed but news reports varied between February 28 and March 2. He was 95. … Read More »

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R.I.P. Dale Robertson

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday February 28, 2013 @ 10:15am PSTTags: Dale Robertson, R.I.P.

Dale Robertson, best remembered for his roles in television and movie Westerns, has died. His niece Nancy Robertson tells the Associated Press her uncle died Tuesday at a hospital in La Jolla, CA following a brief illness. … Read More »

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R.I.P. Bonni Allen

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday February 25, 2013 @ 1:00pm PSTTags: Bonni Allen, R.I.P.

Bonni Allen, longtime talent representative, casting director and producer, died February 20 after battling cancer. She was 52. Allen represented a number of film, television and Broadway actors over the years including Nancy Opel and … Read More »

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R.I.P. Ray Cusick

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Sunday February 24, 2013 @ 7:14am PSTTags: Doctor Who, R.I.P., Ray Cusick

Ray Cusick, the British TV production designer best known for his work on Doctor Who, passed away Thursday night after a short illness. He was 84. In 1963, Cusick, a staff designer at the BBC, … Read More »

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R.I.P. Bob Godfrey

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 22, 2013 @ 9:39pm PSTTags: Bob Godfrey, R.I.P.

Britain’s first Oscar-winning animator Bob Godfrey, whose work ranged from the children’s TV cartoon Roobarb and the BAFTA-winning Henry’s Cat to mock-erotic films like Kama Sutra Rides Again, died Thursday at the age of 91. Born in Australia (née Roland Frederick Godfrey), he was educated in England where he began his career as a graphic artist in the 1930s. During World War II he served in the Royal Marines and afterward seized an opportunity to work in animation that eventually lead to a collaborative animated film produced in 1952 at a cost of £10 and entitled The Big Parade. Godfrey’s crew — Jeff Hale, Keith Learner, and later Nancy Hanna and Vera Linnecar — decided to set up their own studio, making some of the first commercials for ITV. The Guardian described him as the godfather of British animation. In addition to winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for his 1975 musical comedy Great, about civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, he was nominated three other times including for the aforementioned Kama Sutra. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick so admired that film he screened it alongside UK showings of A Clockwork Orange. Read More »

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R.I.P. Lou Myers

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday February 21, 2013 @ 11:59am PSTTags: Lou Myers, R.I.P.

Character actor Lou Myers, best known for his role as the feisty Mr. Gaines on the NBC sitcom A Different World, has died. A spokesperson for Myers’ nonprofit Global Business Incubation tells The Associated Press Myers died Tuesday … Read More »

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R.I.P. Petro Vlahos

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday February 20, 2013 @ 3:48pm PSTTags: Petro Vlahos, R.I.P.

Special effects pioneer Petro Vlahos, who advanced the blue-and green-screen technique used in the 1959 film Ben-Hur and 1964′s Mary Poppins, has died. His family tells the LA Times Vlahos died February 10 at the age of … Read More »

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R.I.P. Pat Derby

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday February 18, 2013 @ 4:20pm PSTTags: Pat Derby, R.I.P.

RIP Pat DerbyPat Derby, the animal rights activist famous for her work training animals for iconic television shows and commercials during the 1960s and 1970s, died Friday at her ARK 2000 animal sanctuary in San Andreas, California … Read More »

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R.I.P. Richard Briers

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday February 18, 2013 @ 6:42am PSTTags: R.I.P., Richard Briers

Veteran stage and screen actor Richard Briers passed away at his London home on Sunday. He was 79. Briers is best known to UK audiences for his work in such BBC series as The Good Life, Ever Decreasing Circles … Read More »

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R.I.P. Gerry Hambling

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday February 11, 2013 @ 9:13am PSTTags: R.I.P.

Joe Utichi contributes to Deadline’s UK coverage

Veteran British film editor Gerry Hambling has died. The six-time Oscar nominee was 86. He worked most closely with Sir Alan Parker who cut with Hambling on the films Bugsy Malone, Fame, Pink Floyd … Read More »

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R.I.P. Chris Brinker

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday February 9, 2013 @ 12:45pm PSTTags: R.I.P.

Chris Brinker, producer of the popular cult movie The Boondock Saints and a handful of other films, died early Friday morning of problems associated with an aortic aneurysm. His brother Michael told RadarOnline they were in Marina … Read More »

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R.I.P. Peter Gilmore

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday February 7, 2013 @ 12:43am PSTTags: R.I.P.

Peter Gilmore, an actor who appeared in a number of the UK’s top TV dramas in the 1970s and 80s as well as the Carry On series of film comedies, has died at the Trinity Hospice in … Read More »

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R.I.P. Stuart Freeborn

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday February 6, 2013 @ 6:44pm PSTTags: R.I.P., Star Wars

Stuart Freeborn RIP Star WarsBritish makeup artist Stuart Freeborn, known for his work on the Star Wars films and 2001: A Space Odyssey, has died. He was 98. Freeborn died in London of a combination of ailments associated with his age, according to AP. In addition to creating Star Wars‘ Jedi master Yoda, which he modeled after Albert Einstein’s features as well as his own, Freeborn helped create Chewbacca and Jabba the Hutt as well as other iconic characters in the franchise. “Stuart was already a makeup legend when he started on Star Wars,” George Lucas said in a statement sent by Lucasfilm. “He brought with him not only decades of experience, but boundless creative energy. His artistry and craftsmanship will live on forever in the characters he created.” Outside of his most famous Star Wars creations, Freeborn designed the apelike “Dawn Of Man” hominids in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and transformed Peter Sellers for Dr. Strangelove. Read More »

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