RIP

Yeah, its sad really. That must be all of them gone now mustnt it ?

I think one of the perks of being from Down Under is you are equally awash in both Brit and American culture. I myself have never heard of these blokes or their show.

chris63 wrote:RIP. Ian Lavender. (Private Pike)

Dad's Army. Great show.

{{ A genuine cultural classic Dads Army, some great performers, Clive Dunn who somehow played very old from being a young man, John Le Mesurier who was just mercurial (also voiced Bilbo in the BBC radio play version) and of course Arthur Lowe as the uptight class conscious Captain Mannering.
It's one of the great backbone shows of the British sitcom.
As with all good sitcoms it had a memorable theme tune too, by Dunn-



They are all available on youtube starting from the original '68 black and white series



The writers of it Croft and Perry are pretty much legends of the sitcom, they also did Hi-Di-Hi, and my personal favourite It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which is never shown any more as its considered 'problematic' as it's about a bunch British soldiers stationed in India, a troop of performers in fact with the added joke that they have a traditional shouty soldiery sergeant major who has been put in charge of, in his own words, "a bunch of poofters", the Sergeant is brilliantly played by Windsor Davies in a career defining performance. It also has an Indian character who is played by a white actor made up, but in fairness he might be white but he is also half Indian on his mothers side and spent most of his life growing up in colonial India, so it's a very genuine feeling performance full of heart and in my view not racist at all. }}

RIP Theoden, son of Thengel.

May you go to your father's in whose mighty company you should not feel ashamed.

What?! No!

I was going to say I just watched him in Netflix's Three Body Problem, but realized that was Liam Cunningham with a beard and part that made him look like Bernard Hill.

yes, just heard. Bernard Hill, King Theoden, passed away. Its all too gloomy

RIP

Were those top two the same guy?

A sad day

No, he's not dead yet, but I'm watching the 98th birthday celebration of Dick Van Dyke. All these young performers who know his work (I always find it heartwarming that young people know the classics) but none of their repeat performances can touch his originals. Not even close. He and Sammy Davis Junior are untouchable.

I suppose they picked his 98th birthday because they were afraid to wait for his 100th and miss it.

Chitty chitty bang for and Mary Poppins two of my favourite films.

He mentioned in the birthday celebration that they had to shoot "the Old Bamboo" 36 times.  The sticking point was that someone always missed when they jumped over the bamboo sticks while holding them in the air (imagine trying to recover from that).  It's an interesting piece: most songs or dances advance a plot point; this one was sort of shoved in there at random.

Van Dyke never took dance lessons.

{{ RIP William Russel, best known for playing Ian Chesterton, along with Barbara, Ian and her were the Doctor's very first companions back in 1963. He has been an advocate for the show every since, making his last appearance in Power of the Doctor during Jodies time as Doctor.
He passed at 99 years old and was still doing the Who conventions right till the end. }}

I must read more about this, as I find the little that I have read quite odd ?
Michael Mosley sadly died on a little Island. I quite liked some of his programmes. He was in my hometown not long before he passed away.
https://bournefreelive.co.uk/michael-mosley-pictured-in-eastbourne-one-week-before-he-died/
First Julian Sands went walking and was found dead now, Michael Mosley

James Earle Jones is gone. Most memorable as the voice of Darth Vader, he also appeared in Conan the Barbarian and Roots. I think he was as beloved for his grandfatherly personality as his voice.

Dame Maggie Smith is gone. I really only knew her from Harry Potter, which she dismissed as hardly acting, and the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel series. Come to think of it nothing I've seen her in seems like challenging acting, but she had this certain special something about her which was always riveting.

{{ Oh she could act Halfy, really act, youve missed out if thats all youve seen of her. She was a great stage actress too, played in plenty Shakespeare, if you ant something more mainstream and crowd pleasing I recommend the Pride of Miss Jean Brodie. If you can find it her turn on one of my favourite playwrights of modern times, Alan Bennets Talking Heads its an explamplar of good acting, the whole Talking Heads series (1988- theyve been redone several times with different actresses) is a juggernaut of naturalistic acting from some of the greatest, particularly female, actors of the last 50 years of British stage, tv and cinema. }}

Well obviously she can act as you can't take your eyes off her when she's old and grey; she must have been truly formidable when she was young and dishy to boot.  But I prefer the older version.  We've got talented young actors coming out our ears - the old ones if they are any good punctuate the scene like wooly mammoths: impossible to ignore.

And of course who can resist a Graham Norton appearance:

We were so lucky to have a lovely actress like her. Ive watched her films etc for donkeys years. If a film, play or whatever said she was in it I will watch it. I loved her with Peter Ustinov in the film "Hot Millions", and they teamed up in an Agatha Christie film, "Evil under the sun ", This lady has probably acted as soon as she could walk. She filled her life and lived to a good age. God bless her now.