Passages

[colinr0380]

Jared Harris recently turned down a role in the Harry Potter TV series saying he didn’t see the point of it, which is funny considering the reason his father took the Dumbledore role and that Jared took a role in Morbius with the explanation “I have a mortgage to pay.”

And Jared Harris was someone who appeared in quite a significant supporting role in Resident Evil: Apocalypse too! (Kind of similar to his Chernobyl TV series one in some ways, where he spends most of the time remotely ordering people around and looking pensively at screens!)

[Aunt Peg]

Don't forget the Mother Superior in the Sister Act films! And very moving as a woman getting a late in life opportunity to be desired in the "Bed Amongst The Lentils" monologue of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads series.

I was lucky enough to see Dame Maggie on stage in that play in 2004.

[hearthesilence]

Jared Harris recently turned down a role in the Harry Potter TV series saying he didn’t see the point of it, which is funny considering the reason his father took the Dumbledore role and that Jared took a role in Morbius with the explanation “I have a mortgage to pay.”

And Jared Harris was someone who appeared in quite a significant supporting role in Resident Evil: Apocalypse too! (Kind of similar to his Chernobyl TV series one in some ways, where he spends most of the time remotely ordering people around and looking pensively at screens!)

This is probably something I didn't notice until the last decade because I'm older and now see a majority of my peers going out of their minds from the financial stress of raising children, but when I found out directors like Alain Resnais and Michelangelo Antonioni never had children, my immediate thought was "makes sense." If you don't live an extravagant lifestyle and have no children or other family members to support, there's a hell of a lot less pressure to find or take gigs just to make money. I know Bergman and Godard did (like soap commercials), but I think in both cases they may have had quite a bit of alimony to pay or they were trying to keep their company payroll afloat.

[MichaelB]

The big gap (2004-11) in Paweł Pawlikowski's filmography is thanks to him having to become a full-time single parent after his wife's unexpected death.

I was on a festival jury with him in 2009 and he was genuinely worried that he might not be able to make another film after such a long hiatus (especially since those family circumstances had forced him to abandon a project mid-production), so I couldn't be happier about his subsequent renaissance.

Oh, and while Ingmar Bergman had loads of kids with multiple women, he... well, he once apologised to his son Daniel for not being much of a father, to which Daniel tersely replied that he wasn't any kind of father. And yes, he did indeed take on those soap commercials (which are terrific, btw) as well as nakedly commercial projects like the Cold War spy thriller This Can't Happen Here (1950) for alimony and child-support reasons. Although, that said, even without a child-support motivation, Bergman had always been unusually conscientious when it came to what he saw as paying his dues - for instance, he made the syrupy weepie Music in Darkness (1948) because his producer badly needed a hit and since Bergman was substantially responsible for his financial position he felt that he owed him that.

[hearthesilence]

The most stunning revelation to me in Bergman Island was hearing him say he had absolutely no relationship with any of his children, especially within the context of him clearly living in isolation. I was a bit green at the time, and it sounded like a sad and tragic existence, but in fairness, he likely was incapable of being a father and was never going to turn into a happy and content poppa. At least he made sure they didn't go hungry, and I guess not being around is better than raising them and subjecting them to abuse and scapegoating for his unhappiness (which sadly I've seen happen too often with certain parents).

[MichaelB]

He was very supportive of his numerous ex-wives and long-term girlfriends (some of whom, like Liv Ullmann, he might as well have been married to), and indeed carried on working professionally with quite a few of them. Face to Face, for instance, not only stars Ullmann but also features the wife that she supplanted in his affections in the mid-1960s, Käbi Laretei (the mother of Daniel, incidentally). I gather it was a perfectly amicable split, as they both had busy international careers (she was a famous concert pianist), and she carried on contributing to Bergman's films for many years after their divorce – in fact, he credited her with his musical education.

[Mr Sausage]

The big gap (2004-11) in Paweł Pawlikowski's filmography is thanks to him having to become a full-time single parent after his wife's unexpected death.

Similarly, Michele Soavi seemingly abandoned a promising career right as he'd found his voice to take care of his own family (I think his son was sick?), only returning years later to Italian tv.

[CSM126]

Drake Hogestyn

[flyonthewall2983]

Kris Kristofferson

[Mr Sausage]

John Ashton

[flyonthewall2983]

Wow. Always liked him. Earliest breakout role in Breaking Away.

[hearthesilence]

Kris Kristofferson

For a long time (as a kid), I knew him only as an actor, and not even for his best movies. No doubt he's written some great songs (particularly ones that have been wonderfully interpreted by others like Janis Joplin and Jerry Lee Lewis's own renditions of "Me and Bobby McGee" or Johnny Cash's hit cover of "Sunday Morning Coming Down") but his lead performance in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid may be my favorite work he's done.

[colinr0380]

The Peckinpah pictures are excellent but also his big film with John Sayles Lone Star too (and he turns up in my favourite Sayles film, Limbo, a few years after that). Plus the lead role in Alan Rudolph's Trouble In Mind. And he is in that very strange adaptation of Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea.

In more light entertainment fare, he had a good starring role in the sci-fi film Millennium (from Logan's Run and Dam Busters director Michael Anderson), and as part of the starriest cast that ever graced a Steven Seagal film as the bad guy in Fire Down Below, with Harry Dean Stanton (although On Deadly Ground with Michael Caine as the bad guy cuts it close!). He had a really interesting late 90s too with his supporting role in the Blade film, in which he dies, although being about vampires that doesn't stop him turning up in the sequels! And he's the love interest in the Julie Walters and Brenda Blethyn film Girl's Night.

[brundlefly]

Kristofferson's integral as the second charm offensive in Blume in Love, his shaggy charisma simultaneously loosening possibilities and dead ends.

[Mr Sausage]

For a long time (as a kid), I knew him only as an actor, and not even for his best movies.

Same. I think I only learned he was a singer-songwriter when I saw Taxi Driver in my late teens.

Was he the best actor to ever cross over from music to film? I don't think I've ever seen him be anything but convincing, even in mediocre films.

[reaky]

This will be a national day of mourning in Ireland, as for a generation, Kristofferson (along with Johnny Cash) was as big as Elvis. The BBC series Blue Lights nails this by making grizzled patrol cop Gerry a huge fan with Kris constantly on in the car.

[Drucker]

Dikembe Mutombo of brain cancer.

[dwk]

Dikembe Mutombo of brain cancer.

Probably not the ideal remembrance, but nearly every time I think of Dikembe Mutombo I think about the stories of him going into clubs and bellowing "Who wants to sex Mutombo." (Story confirmed by Alonzo Mourning)

[Matt]

Discussion on musicians who became actors moved here.

[j99]

For a long time (as a kid), I knew him only as an actor, and not even for his best movies.

Same. I think I only learned he was a singer-songwriter when I saw Taxi Driver in my late teens.

Was he the best actor to ever cross over from music to film? I don't think I've ever seen him be anything but convincing, even in mediocre films.

The much derided Heaven’s Gate is a good example. I thought his performance in it was superb.

[Orlac]

Kris Kristofferson

I'm ashamed...this news prompted me to re-watch the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes!

[dwk]

Pete Rose

[hearthesilence]

I love how SNL turned his scandal into a Rain Man parody.

[Lemmy Caution]

Mutombo was a great man. Spent a decade planning, fundraising and building a 170 bed state-of-the-art free hospital in a poor part of Kinshasa. Reportedly put about $25M of his own money into it. He's also built and funded a high level primary and secondary school in his hometown in DR Congo.

As for Pete Rose, he was best known in NYC for inciting a brawl during the 1973 NLCS. Rose on 1st, ground ball to 1st. Thrown to 2nd and back to first for a double play. Rose slides hard and through the base with spikes up, to disrupt the throw. Harrelson says something, Rose shoves him and a brawl starts. Eventually Johnny Bench pulls Rose out of the pile. Fans throw debris all over the field. Rose hated in NYC from then on.

One other thing i didn't see mentioned in Rose obits was the fact that he was the last player-manager. Of course that was also when he was betting on his own team. He was such a hardcore gambler that he often had a friend in the stands signaling to him how his bets for the day were doing.

Rose also the only player named an all star at 5 positions.
Pete captained the 70's Reds, one of the all time great teams with damn near an all star at every position. An infield of Tony Perez, B2B MVP Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion. Pete Rose, Johnny Bench. Outfield: George Foster, Cesar Geronimo, Ken Griffey. A solid but unspectacular pitching staff would be their only weakness. Don Gullet was a legit star, but retired at 27 due to a shoulder injury. Could have won 200 games.

I actually was at Shea Stadium in 1978 when Rose tied the NL record of 36 straight games with a hit. A neighbor randomly invited me to the Mets game, which turned out consequential.

[fdm]

John Amos