RIP – BERT SCHNEIDER

EXPIRED: 12/12/11 –  Bert Schneider, 78, was a  a student at Cornell University, but he was expelled for being rebellious. So with that kind of attitude – and filmmaking in his blood (his father was Abraham Schneider, president of  Columbia Pictures), he was destined to go to Hollywood.

He began his showbiz career at Screen Gems, partnering with director Bob Rafelson to develop The Monkees. The TV show – unlike the follow-up Monkees movie, Head – was a huge success and allowed  Schneider to finance the making of the counter-culture classic Easy Rider in 1969. It famously starred Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Head-screenwriter Jack Nicholson as a trio of motorcycle riding hippies going against America’s grain.

Schneider, with a flair for unconventional filmmaking, is credited with paving the way for other New Hollywood directors like George Lucas, Paul Mazursky and Sydney Pollack.

Follow-ups included Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Picture Show (1971) and The King of Marvin Gardens (1972). In 1975, Schneider won an Oscar for the documentary Hearts and Minds (1974).

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RIP – LAURA ZISKIN

EXPIRED: 06/12/11 –  Laura Ziskin, 61, was one of the most successful female film producers in Hollywood history, having shaped Pretty Woman, Fight Club & the Spider-Man franchise. While fighting a 7 yr battle with breast cancer she co-founded Stand Up To Cancer & produced 2 of its telecasts herself. Just last week, she wrote a column for The Huffington Post urging cancer survivors & their loved ones to contribute to the ongoing fight against the disease.

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RIP – BABY MARIE

EXPIRED: 11/11/10 – Baby Marie, 99, was a star.

At 5, she made $300/week when most Depression-era Americans earned less than $1,000 a year.

Girls wished for a Baby Marie doll for Xmas. She asked for, and got, mansions.

Why not? She made 26 movies in 6 years, including Little Mary Sunshine!

But she was washed up at age 10.

In the 30’s she did stand-in work for Betty Hutton and for Ginger Rogers in Change of Heart. She also appeared in the Gay Divorcée.

Later she learned how to make costumes and found a job doing that behind the scenes for Guys and Dolls, Spartacus, The Way We Were, Mame,  The Godfather, Part II, and many others.

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RIP – KEVIN MCCARTHY

EXPIRED: 09/11/10 – Kevin McCarthy, 96, was a classically trained actor. So it was probably a source of much amusement to him that he is best remembered for his role in a low budget sci-fi film that has since become a classic.

“Stop and listen to me! …. They’re not human! … Can’t you see? Everyone! They’re here already. You’re next!”

Obviously, the body snatchers took a long time finding him.

As the lead in the 1950s film The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, McCarthy played Miles Bennell, a doctor who becomes alarmed when he discovers that the people in his small town have been transformed…..into aliens. The fact that the film, produced at the height of the McCarthy period, was a deep allegory has made it one of the most iconic of the Eisenhower era.

RIP – CORSO SALANI

EXPIRED: 06/16/10 – Corso Salani, 48, a native of Florence, Italy, was a well-respected actor and director who made films that were a blend of documentary and fiction that came very close to reality.

Interestingly, at the time of his death he had just completed filming I Casi della Vita, a new docu-fiction piece on work-related deaths.

And so life imitates art.

RIP – KAREN SCHMEER

EXPIRED: 01/29/10 – Karen Schmeer, 39, was a documentary film editor who lived and worked in New York City. She’s best known for her work on the documentary “Fog of War,” about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature.

RIP – LARRY ‘L.A.’ JOHNSON

EXPIRED: 01/21/10 – Larry “L.A.” Johnson, 62, received an Oscar nomination for best sound for his work on the film “Woodstock” but that was just the beginning.

It was at Woodstock that Johnson met musician Neil Young and the two had been film collaborators ever since.

RIP – GLAUCO ONORATO

EXPIRED: 12/31/09 – Glauco Onorato, 73, was an Italian film, television and voice actor And with his death dies a good chunk of Hollywood. At least for Italian movie goers. He was the voice that brought so many stars to life!