We mourn the loss of actor Gene Wilder, who died today at age 83. Best remembered as the mild-mannered accountant enticed into fraud by Zero Mostel in “The Producers” and as candymaker Willy Wonka, and as the gunman in “Blazing Saddles,” Wilder also starred with Richard Pryor in “Stir Crazy” and starred as the title character and co-wrote one of the funniest movies of all time, “Young Frankenstein.”
Director Mel Brooks tweeted: “Gene Wilder-One of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship.”
We mourn the loss of singer Marni Nixon, whose provided the voice for musical numbers in films from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” to “West Side Story.”
She sang for Deborah Kerr in “The King and I.”
She sang for Audrey Hepburn in “My Fair Lady.”
She sang the operatic flourishes at the beginning of Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
And she sang for Natalie Wood in “West Side Story.”
She appeared on screen and did her own singing as a nun in “The Sound of Music.” Here she sings some of the songs from the film as a guide for the singers who would be dubbing the international editions.
The New York Times reported that Hollywood tried to keep her participation in the films quiet.
Ms. Kerr was nominated for an Academy Award in 1956 for her role as Anna in “The King and I”; the film’s soundtrack album sold hundreds of thousands of copies. For singing Anna’s part on that album, Ms. Nixon recalled, she received a total of $420.
“You always had to sign a contract that nothing would be revealed,” Ms. Nixon told the ABC News program “Nightline” in 2007. “Twentieth Century Fox, when I did ‘The King and I,’ threatened me.” She continued, “They said, if anybody ever knows that you did any part of the dubbing for Deborah Kerr, we’ll see to it that you don’t work in town again.”
Ms. Nixon had an extensive career in theater and concert performances but is best remembered for the films the producers did not want anyone to know she sang in. May her memory be a blessing.
The term GOAT — Greatest of All Time — was coined for boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Born Cassius Clay, he took the name Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam. But most often he was known simply as Ali or “The Greatest.” We mourn his death at age 74 from Parkinson’s disease. Ali was selected by Sports Illustrated as the third greatest athlete of the 20th century. But he was also a towering and sometimes polarizing figure in American culture as well, a consummate showman, and a proud, outspoken man in the tumultuous era of protests over civil rights and the Vietnam war.
We mourn the loss of Oscar-winner Patty Duke, who played the part of the blind and deaf child Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, first on the Broadway stage and then on film. Her discovery of language as the water from the pump poured over her hand, is one of the most memorable scenes in the history of film. Her autobiography, Call Me Anna, told the harrowing story of how her unstable mother essentially turned her over at age seven to talent managers who were explotive and abusive. Her name was Anna, but they decided Patty was more suitable. They pushed her, drilled, her, controlled every minute of her time and everything she wore and said. They also gave her alcohol and pills, abused her, and stole the money she earned. The book was adapted as a movie for television and she played herself as an adult.
She was fierce and fearless as Helen Keller.
In a remake, she played Annie Sullivan, opposite Melissa Gilbert as Helen.
As a young woman, the managers had her playing identical cousins in a silly but very popular sitcom.
She left her squeeky-clean image behind by playing a drug-addicted singing star in the trashy Valley of the Dolls.
She later developed substance abuse problems and was diagnosed as bipolar at age 35. She co-wrote a book about mental illness and became an advocate for destigmatizing mental disorders and for her fellow actors as the head of the Screen Actors Guild.
