January 31, 2023
Film Editor Mike Hill, who worked on 22 Ron Howard movies in a row and won an Oscar for his work on Apollo 13, died on Thursday of a rare lung condition known as COP while at his home in Omaha, Nebraska, according to a family spokesperson. He was 73. Hill and his editing partner, Daniel P. Hanley, first teamed with Howard on the 1982 comedy Night Shift, and their […]
I didn’t know Robert J. Dowling, but I always knew of him, as he was a titan of the industry — at least my chosen profession. Despite my long career in trade journalism, I can’t say I ever had the pleasure of working for the man, yet even as a cub reporter, I knew he was a man of integrity. A man to be respected. Indeed, by all accounts, the […]
Veteran sound expert Benjamin “Bo” Harwood, Jr. has died at the age of 76. He worked as a sound mixer, sound editor, sound engineer, music supervisor, composer, and songwriter over the course of his illustrious career. Born in Los Angeles in 1946 to Benjamin Harwood, Sr., and Jeanne Elaine Yourell Harwood, both native, first-generation Angelenos, Bo grew up in Pacific Palisades, where he often adventured in the hills of Will […]
Amanda Mackey, the esteemed casting director who worked on films such as The Fugitive and A League of Their Own, died in her sleep on Aug. 27. She was 70. Mackey had been battling myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of blood cancer, at NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn. She spent nearly four decades working in Hollywood, earning an Emmy nomination for Ryan Murphy‘s acclaimed HBO movie The Normal Heart. Born and raised […]
Michael Clancy, who served as the longtime costume designer on the hit TV series Blue Bloods as well as several James Gray movies, has died. His passing was announced July 29 on Instagram by his friend and fellow costume designer, Naomi Wolff Lachter. Clancy got his start on the Disney Channel series Avonlea before making the jump to features in 1993 with Ang Lee‘s The Wedding Banquet and Abel Ferrara‘s […]
Jean-Marie Lavalou, the Frenchman who co-created the Louma Crane, the first remote-controlled camera system used in the motion picture industry, died on July 15 in Paris. He was 76. Born on March 9, 1946, Lavalou was born into the ‘La Fromagerie Lavalou’ family in Bourg Saint Leonard, Normandie, France. He developed a passion for film at an early age and traveled to Paris to attend the Ecole Nationale Superieure Louis Lumiere […]
Johnny Pizarro, a 31-year-old crew member on Law & Order: Organized Crime, was shot and killed early Tuesday morning in New York while filming the NBC show’s third season according to media reports. Pizarro was reportedly sitting in his car in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn when an unknown suspect opened fire around 5:15 a.m. Pizarro was transported to Woodhull Hospital, where efforts to save him proved futile. Pizarro was […]
Monty Norman, who composed the iconic theme for the character of James Bond, died on Monday following a short illness. He was 94, and his death was announced on his official website. The British composer’s “James Bond Theme” was first used in the 1962 movie Dr. No and it has endured to this day, even though it is often mistakenly credited to arranger John Barry. Norman even won a lawsuit […]
Glen Trotiner, who served as first or second assistant director on movies such as The Untouchables, Independence Day, and Captain America: The First Avenger, died on June 16 in New York. He was 65. Trotiner grew up in the Bronx and graduated from the DGA’s Training Program, after which he embarked on a long showbiz career as an assistant director and co-producer. His first gig as an AD was on […]
A car crash involving cast and crew from the Netflix series The Chosen One has left two actors dead and at least six other members of the production injured, according to multiple reports. Local media reported that the Chosen One staffers were riding in a van when it ran off the road and flipped in a desert area. Raymundo Garduño Cruz and Juan Francisco González Aguilar sustained fatal injuries in […]