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Post by felixdeburgh on Apr 15, 2024 21:37:48 GMT
That’s a shame - I remember him well, particularly when he made his only century. I saw him play in a charity match in the mid 80s and even though he wasn’t trying very hard, the batsmen were having problems picking him out.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Apr 3, 2024 7:28:37 GMT
I’m a big fan of Foxx-era Ultravox and put Systems of Romance on yesterday after I heard the news. Such a brilliant album that he played a big part in.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Mar 12, 2024 22:56:15 GMT
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Post by felixdeburgh on Mar 12, 2024 21:33:55 GMT
A very recognisable face to people on this forum having appeared in the holy trinity of Minder, The Sweeney and The Professionals, he sadly passed away last month at the age of 85. Apart from the 3 series already mentioned, he also appeared in Man In A Suitcase, The Persuaders!, Thriller, Space:1999, The Empire Strikes Back and had uncredited parts in 2 Bond films - From Russia With Love and Thunderball.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Feb 23, 2024 16:07:21 GMT
Another famous face leaves us - probably best known for his long-standing role in Coronation Street but better known on this forum as Plumb in Servant Of Two Masters, John Savident has died at the age of 86. He was a very recognisable face in film and TV with roles in The Avengers (My Wildest Dream), Man In A Suitcase (Web With Four Spiders), Doctor Who (The Visitation), Blake’s 7 (Orbit) and he was also the uncredited policeman who visits Stanley Bakers’ (actual) house at the end of Robbery.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Feb 22, 2024 23:05:13 GMT
The actor who is probably best known on here for appearing in 2 episodes of The Professionals has sadly died at the age of 80. She was also in things like The First Great Train Robbery, Magnum PI and was also Moneypenny in Never Say Never Again.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jan 26, 2024 17:56:27 GMT
The Guardian reports the death of the Minder scriptwriter who was responsible for some of my favourite episodes including Back In Good Old England, All Mod Cons and Goodbye Sailor, as well as Minder On The Orient Express. He also created Pie In The Sky and wrote for Shoestring, Lovejoy and Midsomer Murders. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/jan/26/andrew-payne-obituaryRIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jan 21, 2024 21:47:00 GMT
Various reports online that the composer of the themes for The Avengers and The Professionals has died at the age of 96. A very sad loss.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jan 10, 2024 19:16:49 GMT
She was great in One Foot In The Grave too.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Dec 25, 2023 19:56:45 GMT
The actor probably best known for his role as Captain Yates in Doctor Who has died at the age of 87.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Dec 16, 2023 22:22:14 GMT
I watched it from the start up until around 1988 and it was brilliant. Tommy McArdle (played by Malcolm Tierney) was probably my favourite character.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Dec 11, 2023 9:23:09 GMT
One of the great characters from that series - always enjoyed his appearances.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Dec 9, 2023 10:35:08 GMT
Agree about The Games - a great film with terrific performances from Stanley Baker and Michael Crawford. Obviously The Driver is also a standout from his CV.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Sept 29, 2023 21:32:52 GMT
Tremendous in Layer Cake - a very sad loss.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Sept 25, 2023 21:49:29 GMT
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Post by felixdeburgh on Aug 8, 2023 16:14:59 GMT
Probably my favourite film director - so many great films but The French Connection is the best of the lot in my opinion. I was only watching it again on Saturday night on TPTV. In Mark Kermode’s documentary 'Making The Connection' he tells the story of how Fernando Rey was cast in the role of Charnier entirely by mistake.
Originally, he’d wanted Francisco Rabal, who he’d seen in the 1967 French film Belle De Jour. He described him to his production team and so they made contact with his agent, discovered he was available and flew him out to the States to meet Friedkin. Friedkin was waiting for him at the airport but couldn’t see anyone he recognised and eventually he was paged to go the information desk where Rey, who he did recognise, was waiting for him. Rey said he was very honoured to be chosen for the film and that he was surprised they’d gone for him as he was Spanish and didn’t speak any French. Gradually, it dawned on Friedkin that they’d got the wrong man (Rey wasn’t actually in Belle De Jour at all) and so he made an excuse to leave for a moment and rang one of the production team. "You a$$holes, you f***ing morons, this is the wrong guy!" he shouted down the phone. They showed Rey to his room for the night and had a meeting where it was discovered that the contract with Rey for the film had already been signed and that there was no money in the budget to pay him off and get Rabal in, so they had to go with him. The rest, as they say, is history.
I always found Friedkin a very engaging personality who knew how to tell a story. He waited until the Statute Of Limitations on prosecutions had expired before revealing that he’d spent some of the fake money he’d got a forger to make for him for To Live And Die In L.A. He also created an Amazon account solely for the purpose of warning people not to buy the DVD of Sorcerer as it hadn’t been remastered (a shame he didn’t do the same thing with his 'director’s version' of The French Connection!) and employed a mafia arsonist to create an explosion in Sorcerer after his special effects crew couldn’t manage it.
A sad loss. RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jun 15, 2023 15:30:12 GMT
Another who seemed like a nice guy. I used to enjoy his contributions to matches for Sky in the late 90s.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jun 15, 2023 10:51:13 GMT
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jun 15, 2023 10:44:17 GMT
Always seemed like a decent bloke.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on May 22, 2023 20:59:50 GMT
I think even Johnny Marr couldn’t remember exactly how he got that sound so you did well! He’d had the guitar bit for a while but couldn’t find a use for it and decided to record it as a backing track with Rourke and Joyce anyway. Eventually, Morrissey wrote some lyrics for it but, amazingly, it still ended up as a b-side initially.
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Post by felixdeburgh on May 19, 2023 11:17:23 GMT
Yes, I was only watching him in The Saint episode 'The Damsel In Distress' earlier in the week.
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Post by felixdeburgh on May 19, 2023 7:25:11 GMT
Shocking news from Johnny Marr this morning that the former bassist for The Smiths has died after battling pancreatic cancer. A very sad loss.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on May 19, 2023 7:07:41 GMT
Very sad news that prolific stunt artist-turned-director Ray Austin died earlier this week. He worked on many ITC shows and The Avengers during the mid-60s before turning to directing and helming episodes of The Professionals, The New Avengers and many American shows such as Hart To Hart, Airwolf, The Fall Guy, Spenser For Hire and Magnum P.I. www.raymondaustin.comI was lucky to have met him on several occasions and he was always happy to chat and had a wealth of stories to tell. RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on May 2, 2023 21:56:37 GMT
My 2 favourite tracks of his. Very sad to wake up this news this morning.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Apr 25, 2023 20:05:44 GMT
I seem to remember his Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) hit because it was used on a Kellogs advert. RIP Harry. I remember it more because of Paul Barber miming to it in 'Don’t Tell Them Willie Boy Was Here'!
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Post by felixdeburgh on Mar 29, 2023 12:45:10 GMT
I met him in 2011 when he was a guest at The Avengers 50th Anniversary event at Chichester. He was a huge fan of the show (he used to close his Sunday R2 show with the tag scene music from Season 6) and he became good friends with Linda Thorson in particular. He was exactly as you saw on screen - funny, mad, sharp as a tack and more than happy to chat with everyone. I took this picture and a few others of him with one of our number who entered the fancy dress competition (and won IIRC): A very sad loss. RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Mar 18, 2023 22:50:22 GMT
Superb as Daniels in The Wire - a very sad loss.
RIP.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Feb 13, 2023 9:15:11 GMT
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Post by felixdeburgh on Feb 9, 2023 20:47:12 GMT
One of the greatest songwriters of all time, without question. I find it difficult to pick a favourite as he was responsible for so many great songs but if forced, I’d probably go for I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, if only for having the cojones to rhyme 'pneumonia' with 'phone you'. Absolute genius.
RIP to one of the very best.
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Post by felixdeburgh on Jan 29, 2023 10:08:08 GMT
A massive influence on many of the bands of my youth, not least Echo & The Bunnymen who included a great version of ‘Friction' in their covers set in 1985. Brian Eno famously (and erroneously) said that The Velvet Underground only sold 30 000 copies of their first album but everyone who bought it went out and formed a band. I would venture that Television had a similar impact with Marquee Moon.
RIP.
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