Stars that died in 2023

In 2024, we've experienced the loss of several luminaries in the world of entertainment. These beloved figures—actors, comedians, musicians, singers, and coaches—have touched our lives with their talent, passion, and dedication. They've left an indelible mark on our hearts and shaped the world of entertainment in ways that will continue to inspire and influence generations to come. Among the incredible actors who bid farewell this year, we mourn the loss of a true chameleon who effortlessly.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

James MacArthur, American actor (Hawaii Five-O, Swiss Family Robinson), died from natural causes he was , 72.

James Gordon MacArthur was an American actor best known for the role of Danny "Danno" Williams, the reliable second-in-command of the fictional Hawaiian State Police squad Hawaii Five-O died from natural causes he was , 72..

(December 8, 1937 – October 28, 2010)

Early life

Born in Los Angeles, California, he was adopted as an infant by playwright Charles MacArthur and actress Helen Hayes. He grew up in Nyack, New York, along with the MacArthurs' biological daughter, Mary. He was educated at Allen-Stevenson School in New York, and later at the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he starred in basketball, football, and baseball.
In his final year at Solebury, he played guard on the football team; captained the basketball team; was president of his class, the student government, and the Drama Club; rewrote the school's constitution; edited the school paper, The Scribe; and played Scrooge in a local presentation of A Christmas Carol. He also started dating a fellow student, Joyce Bulifant; they were married in November 1958 and divorced nine years later.
MacArthur grew up around the greatest literary and theatrical talent of the time. Lillian Gish was his godmother, and his family guests included Ben Hecht, Harpo Marx, Robert Benchley, Beatrice Lillie, John Barrymore, and John Steinbeck. His first radio role was on Theatre Guild of the Air, in 1948. The Theatre Guild of the Air was the premier radio program of its day, producing one-hour plays that were performed in front of a live audience of 800. Helen Hayes accepted a role in one of the plays, which also had a small part for a child. Her son was asked if he would like to do it, and agreed.

Acting career

He made his stage debut at Olney, Maryland, in 1949, with a two-week stint in The Corn Is Green. His sister Mary was in the play and telephoned their mother to request that James go to Olney to be in it with her. The following summer, he repeated the role at Dennis, Massachusetts, and his theatrical career was underway. In 1954, he played John Day in Life With Father with Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney. He became involved in important Broadway productions only after receiving his training in summer stock.
He also worked as a set painter, lighting director and chief of the parking lot. During a Helen Hayes festival at the Falmouth Playhouse on Cape Cod, he had a few walk-on parts. He also helped the theatre electrician and grew so interested that he was allowed to stay on after his mother's plays had ended. As a result, he lighted the show for Barbara Bel Geddes in The Little Hut and for Gloria Vanderbilt in The Swan. When he visited Paris with his mother as a member of The Skin of Our Teeth Company, he was in charge of making thunder backstage with a sheet of metal.
At the age of 18, he played Hal Ditmar in the television play, Deal a Blow, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Macdonald Carey, Phyllis Thaxter and Edward Arnold. In 1956, Frankenheimer directed the movie version of the play, which was renamed The Young Stranger, with MacArthur again in the starring role. Again his performance was critically acclaimed, earning him a nomination for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1958 BAFTA awards.^{[citation needed]} He made The Light in the Forest and Third Man on the Mountain, for Walt Disney, during summer breaks from Harvard University, where he was studying history. Deciding to make acting his full-time career, he left Harvard in his sophomore year to make two more Disney movies, Kidnapped and Swiss Family Robinson. These are now regarded as classics, and are still popular. In February 2003, Conrad Richter's novel The Light in the Forest was one of the books selected for Ohio's One Book, Two Counties project. MacArthur was a guest speaker, and talked of how the book was turned into the film and of his experiences making the movie.^{[citation needed]}
He made his Broadway debut in 1960, playing opposite Jane Fonda in Invitation to a March, for which he received a Theater World Award. Although he never returned to Broadway, he remained active in theatre, appearing in such productions as Under the Yum Yum Tree, The Moon Is Blue, John Loves Mary (with his then wife, Joyce Bulifant), Barefoot in the Park and Murder at the Howard Johnson's. He then went on to star in such movies as The Interns, Spencer's Mountain, The Truth About Spring and Cry of Battle, as well as in the rather less successful The Love-Ins and The Angry Breed. On the set of The Angry Breed, in 1968, MacArthur met Melody Patterson, who was to become his second wife. They were married on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, in July 1970, but divorced several years later. In 1963, he was a runner-up in the "Top New Male Personality" category of the Golden Laurel Awards.^{[citation needed]}
Between movie and theatre roles, MacArthur was also much in demand for television guest appearances, which included parts in Studio One, G.E. Theatre, Bus Stop the play, Bus Stop the television series, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Eleventh Hour, The Great Adventure, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Combat!, The Virginian, Twelve O'Clock High, and co-starred with his mother Helen Hayes in the 1968 episode "The Pride of the Lioness" on the Tarzan television series. MacArthur also gave a particularly chilling performance as baby-faced opium dealer "Johnny Lubin" in The Untouchables episode, Death For Sale.
Though not all his movie parts were starring roles, and some were quite brief, they were usually pivotal to the plot. His role in The Bedford Incident was that of a young ensign who becomes so rattled by the needling of his Captain (Richard Widmark) that he accidentally fires an ASROC at a Soviet submarine, thus (we are given to understand) starting World War III.
In Battle of the Bulge he again played the role of a young and inexperienced officer. This time, however, the officer finds courage and a sense of responsibility. His brief but memorable appearance in the Clint Eastwood movie, Hang 'Em High eventually led to his role as Dan Williams in Hawaii Five-O, popularizing the catch phrase "Book 'em Danno."

Hawaii Five-O

In 1967, Leonard Freeman, the producer of Hang 'Em High, made the pilot for a new television cop show, Hawaii Five-O. Before it went to air, the pilot was well-received by test audiences, except for some dislike of the actor playing Dan Williams. Freeman remembered MacArthur's portrayal of the traveling preacher in Hang 'Em High: He had come on the set and done the scene in one take. He called MacArthur and offered him the role of Dan Williams. Hawaii Five-O ran for twelve years — eleven with MacArthur. Leaving Hawaii Five-O at the end of its eleventh season, MacArthur returned to the theatre, appearing in The Lunch Hour with Cybill Shepherd.

Post- Hawaii Five-O

He appeared in A Bedfull of Foreigners in Chicago in 1984, and in Michigan in 1985. He followed this with The Hasty Heart, before taking a year out of show business. In 1987, he returned to the stage in The Foreigner, then played Mortimer in the national tour of Arsenic and Old Lace with Jean Stapleton, Marion Ross and Larry Storch. In 1989, he followed another stint in The Foreigner with Love Letters and, in 1990–1991, A Bedfull of Foreigners, this time in Las Vegas.
After leaving Hawaii Five-O, McArthur guest-starred on such television shows as Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Vega$, as well as in the mini series Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story and The Night the Bridge Fell Down, and in the 1998 television movie Stormchasers: Revenge of the Twister, with Kelly McGillis.

Semi-retirement

Throughout his career, MacArthur had also found time for various other ventures. From 1959–60, he partnered with actor James Franciscus and Alan Ladd, Jr. in a Beverly Hills telephone answering service; in June 1972, he directed The Honolulu Community Theatre in a production of his father's play The Front Page, and, for a period in the 1990s he was part-owner of Senior World publication, as well as writing the occasional celebrity interview. In 2000 MacArthur was awarded his own "sidewalk star" in Palm Springs. He continued to appear at conventions, collectors' shows, and celebrity sporting events. A keen golfer, he was the winner of the 2002 Frank Sinatra Invitational Charity Golf Tournament.
He also appeared in television and radio specials and interview programs. His most recent appearances include spots on Entertainment Tonight, Christopher's Closeup and the BBC Radio 5 Live obituary program Brief Lives, in which he paid tribute to his Hawaii Five-O castmate, the late Kam Fong. In 1997, MacArthur returned without Jack Lord (who was in declining health) to play Governor Danny Williams in the 1997 unaired pilot of Hawaii Five-O which starred actor Gary Busey. In April 2003, he traveled to Honolulu's historic Hawaii Theatre for a cameo role in Joe Moore's play Dirty Laundry. Negotiations were underway in late 2010 for MacArthur to make a cameo appearance in the new CBS prime time remake of Hawaii Five-0 at the time of his death. On the November 1, 2010 episode, MacArthur's death was mentioned in a short tribute that played before the start of that episode.

Death

MacArthur died of natural causes on October 28, 2010, age 72, at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. He was survived by his third wife, H. B. Duntz, and his four children and six grandchildren.^[1] The episode Ho'apono from the 2010 version of Hawaii Five-0 was dedicated to MacArthur. ^[2]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Climax!	Hal Ditmar	Deal a Blow
1957	Arthur Murray Party, TheThe Arthur Murray Party	Self	April 30, 1957
1957	Young Stranger, TheThe Young Stranger	Harold James 'Hal' Ditmar
1958	General Electric Theater	Johnny Dundeen	The Young and the Scared
1958	Studio One	Jim Gibson	Ticket to Tahiti
1958	Studio One	Ben Adams	Tongues of Angels
1958	Light in the Forest, TheThe Light in the Forest	Johnny Butler/True Son
1959	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse	Jamsie Corcoran	The Innocent Assassin
1959	Third Man on the Mountain	Rudi Matt
1959	Wagon Train	(uncredited)	The Jenny Tannen Story
1960	Kidnapped	David Balfour
1960	Night of the Auk	Lt. Mac Hartman
1960	Swiss Family Robinson	Fritz Robinson
1960	Play of the Week	Lieutenant Max	Night of the Auk
1961	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Johnny Butler/True Son	Archive footage Light in the Forest: True Son's Revenge
1961	Play of the Week	Lt. Max Hartman	Night of the Auk
1961	Untouchables, TheThe Untouchables	Johnny Lubin	Death for Sale
1961	Bus Stop	Thomas 'Tom' Quincy Hagan	And the Pursuit of Evil
1962	Insight	Jim Brown	The Sophomore
1962	Wagon Train	Dick Pederson	The Dick Pederson Story
1962	Interns, TheThe Interns	Dr. Lew Worship
1962	Dick Powell Show, TheThe Dick Powell Show	Jack Doffer	The Court Martial of Captain Wycliff
1963	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Rudi Matt	Archive footage Banner in the Sky: To Conquer the Mountain
1963	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Rudi Matt	Archive footage Banner in the Sky: The Killer Mountain
1963	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	David Balfour	Archive footage Kidnapped: Part 1
1963	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	David Balfour	Archife footage Kidnapped: Part 2
1963	Sam Benedict	Bert Stover	Some Fires Die Slowly
1963	Spencer's Mountain	Clayboy Spencer
1963	Arrest and Trial	Deke Palmer	A Shield is for Hiding Behind
1963	Cry of Battle	David McVey
1963	Amos Burke: Secret Agent	Larry Forsythe	Who Killed the Kind Doctor?
1963	Eleventh Hour, TheThe Eleventh Hour	Mason Walker	La Belle Indifference
1963	Great Adventure, TheThe Great Adventure	Lieutenant Alexander	The Hunley
1964	Great Adventure, TheThe Great Adventure	Rodger Young	Rodger Young
1964	Alfred Hitchcock Hour, TheThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour	Dave Snowden	Behind the Locked Door
1965	Truth About Spring, TheThe Truth About Spring	William Ashton
1965	Bedford Incident, TheThe Bedford Incident	Ensign Ralston
1965	Virginian, TheThe Virginian	Johnny Bradford	Jennifer
1965	Battle of the Bulge	Lieutenant Weaver
1966	Ride Beyond Vengeance	The Census Taker
1966	Branded	Lt. Laurence	A Destiny Which Made Us Brothers
1966	12 O'Clock High	Lt. Wilson	The Outsider
1966	Gunsmoke	David McGovern	Harvest
1967	Dateline: Hollywood	Self	June 19, 1967
1967	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Cpl. Henry Jenkins	Willie and the Yank: The Deserter Willie and the Yank: The Mosby Raiders
1967	Combat!	Jack Cole	Encounter
1967	Love-Ins, TheThe Love-Ins	Larry Osborne
1967	Insight	Billy Thorp	Some Talk About Pool Rooms and Gin Mills
1967	Hondo	Judd Barton	Hondo and the Mad Dog
1967	Tarzan	Dr. Richard Wilson	The Pride of the Lioness
1967	Bonanza	Jason 'Jase' Fredericks	Check Rein
1967	Death Valley Days	Kit Carson	Spring Rendezvous
1968	Death Valley Days	Kit Carson	The Indian Girl
1968	Angry Breed, TheThe Angry Breed	Deek Stacey
1968	Premiere	Russ Faine	Lassiter
1968	Hang 'Em High	The Preacher
1968– 1979	Hawaii Five-O	Det. Danny Williams	259 episodes
1971	Movie Game, TheThe Movie Game	Self	June 28, 1971 July 4, 1971
1971	Hollywood Squares, TheThe Hollywood Squares	Self	April 12, 1971
1972	Hollywood Squares, TheThe Hollywood Squares	Self	March 6, 1972
1973	Hollywood Squares, TheThe Hollywood Squares	Self	January 1, 1973
1977	Battle of the Network Stars III	Self
1978	Battle of the Network Stars IV	Self
1978	Fantasy Island	Fantasy Island	The Funny Girl/Butch and Sundance
1979	Time Express	Dr. Mark Toland	Garbage Man/Doctor's Wife
1979	Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat	Chet Hanson	The Spider Serenade/The Wife Next Door/The Harder They Fall
1980	34th Annual Tony Awards	Self
1980	Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story	Walt Stomer
1980	Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat	Scott Burgess	The Caller/The Marriage of Convenience/No Girls for Doc/Witness for the Prosecution
1981	Fantasy Island	Bob Graham	The Heroine/The Warrior
1981	Vega$	Jerry Lang	Heist
1981	Walking Tall	Father Adair	The Fire Within
1981	Littlest Hobo, TheThe Littlest Hobo	Jim Haley	Trail of No Return
1983	Scheme of Things, TheThe Scheme of Things	Self
1983	Night the Bridge Fell Down, TheThe Night the Bridge Fell Down	Cal Miller
1983	Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat	Paul Krakauer	I Don't Play Anymore/Gopher's Roommate/Crazy for You
1985	Love Boat, TheThe Love Boat	Marc Silver	Vicki's Gentleman Caller/Partners to the End/The Perfect Arrangement
1989	Adventures of Superboy, TheThe Adventures of Superboy	Hogan	Birdwoman of the Swamps
1991	JFK	uncredited David McVey	Archive footage Cry of Battle
1991	American Masters	Self	Helen Hayes: First Lady of the American Theatre
1994	The Wonderful World of Disney: 40 Years of Television Magic	Self
1997	Hawaii Five-O (1997 pilot)	Governor Danny Williams	Unsold pilot episode
1997	Light Lunch	Self	70 Super Cops
1998	Storm Chasers: Revenge of the Twister	Frank Del Rio
2002	Swiss Family Robinson: Adventure in the Making	Narrator	Special thanks
2002	Inside TVLand: 40 Greatest Theme Songs	Self
2002	Inside TVLand: Cops on Camera	Self
2005	100 Greatest Family Films, TheThe 100 Greatest Family Films	Self
2006	The 100 TV Quotes and Greatest Catch Phases	Self
2007	Entertainment and TVLand Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons	Self
2008	The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics	Self	Grateful thanks

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Smaro Stefanidou, Greek actress, died from heart failure she was , 97.

Smaro Stefanidou (Greek: Σμάρω Στεφανίδου, April 9, 1913 – November 7, 2010^[1]) was a Greek theatre, film, television and radio actress died from heart failure she was , 97.

(, April 9, 1913 – November 7, 2010^[1])

Biography

Her family's origin is from Asia Minor. She graduated from Business School in Athens, she learned foreign languages and the piano. From a very young age she presented plays for children. Without telling her parents, she worked to pay for her tuition at the National Theatre Drama School, as her parents didn't want her to become an actress.
After her graduation from the Drama School, in 1937, she was hired by the top theatre star of these times, Marika Kotopouli. Since 1952 she was the main character actress in the company of Vassilis Logothetidis, with whom she stayed until his death, in 1960.
She also she acted alongside Katerina, Elli Lampeti, Dimitris Horn, Lambros Konstantaras, Giannis Fertis, Xenia Kalogeropoulou, Aliki Vougiouklaki, Stefanos Lineos, Giannis Gkionakis, Nikos Kourkoulos, Antonis Antypas and many more.
A bright point in her career was her rendition of queen Hecuba in the play Trojan Women by Euripides translated and directed by Giannis Tsarouchis at a makeshift theatre on Kaplanon Street and in Delphi At the "Tsarouhis Academy", as she playfully called it, she learned a lot from the charismatic artist.
She made her first cinema appearance in 1951, with G. Zervos' film "Four steps". Since then, she appeared in many movies, among which adaptations of theatre plays in which she had played. She also worked a lot for the radio, taking part in radio serials, radio theatre and readings of novels.
She married singer - chansonnier Vassos Seitanidis (1913–1965) and in 1951 they had a daughter, Leda - Irene, now known as Leda Shantala, a yoga teacher, Bharata natyam dancer/teacher/choreographer and dance therapist.
Smaro Stefanidou and her daughter, in the fall of 2003, created the "Shantom House of Culture", in Chalandri (a suburb of Athens), a centre hosting lessons, workshops and seminars (dance, yoga, martial arts, theatre, alternative therapies etc...) as well as performances. She died in 2010, at the age of 97.

Theatre

1937-1940: Marika Kotopouli Company

Anghelos Terzakis Gamilio emvatirio (Wedding March)
Geri 6th floor
D'Usseau - Gau Deep are the roots
Bernard Shaw Mrs Warren's profession
Dimitris Bogris Kainourgia zoi (New Life)
Dimitris Bogris Everything will change ... Mrs Asprodonti
Andre Aube Don Juan
Pandelis Horn Meltemaki (Light breeze)
Sophokles Electra ... Chorus leader
and more

1940-1942: Katerina Andreadi Company

Yalamas - Oekonomidis - Thisvios War quadrilles
Hayermann Good faith
S. Bekefy Come on the first of the month
and others

1942-1944: Art Theatre

Ibsen Wild Goose
Strindberg Swanevit
G. Sevastikoglou Konstantine and Helene
Pirandello Cosi' e', se vi pare (As you like it)
Erkin Cauldwell For a piece of land
Grigorios Xenopoulos Stella Violandi ... Stella's mother, Maria Violandi
and others

1944: Katerina Andreadi Company

Victorien Sardou Madame Sans-Gene
Leo Lentz Lady I love you

1946: United Artists Troupe

Theodora
If you work, you'll eat

[edit] 1949-50: Vasso Manolidou - Y. Pappas Company

[edit] 1952-1960: Vassilis Logothetidis Company

Sakellarios - Yannakopoulos Despinis eton 39 (An old maid of 39)
Yorgos Roussos Ena votsalo sti limni (A Pebble in the Lake,
Sakellarios - Yannakopoulos Triti kai dekatris (Tuesday and the 13th,
Dimitris Psathas Enas vlakas kai misos (A very stupid fellow),
Yorgos Tzavellas O erastis erchetai (The Lover is Coming)
Feydaux A beating on the bottom
Nikos Tsiforos O teleftaios timios (The Last Honest Man)
and many more

1960-1962: Dimitris Horn Company

McDougall - Alan The coward and the bold
Sakellarios - Yannakopoulos Woe to the young
Anouil Travellers without luggage
and more

1962-63

In the summer of 1962 she took part in the musical play by Bost - Theodorakis Omorfi poli (Beautiful City) (Park Theatre) In the winter of 1962-63 she appeared again with Dimitris Horn in the plays

Georges Neveux What is Zamor
Marc Camoletti Girls up in the air

Immediately after, with the Lambros Konstandaras Company in the plays

Yorgos Roussos Karre tis damas (Carre of Queens) (with Vylma Kyrou and Lambros Konstandaras)
W. Somerset Maugham Rain (with L. Konstandaras and Maro Kondou).

1964-67: Various troupes

1964-65 Neil Simon Barefoot in the Park (Elli Lambeti Company)
1964-65 Tennesee Williams A Streetcar named design. (Elli Lambeti Company)
1965 Pretenderis - Yalamas Mias pendaras niata (Threepenny Youth) (during the summer season at the Minoa Theatre, and in the winter season at the Amiral Theatre)... Marika
1966 Yalamas - Pretenderis I komissa tis fabrikas (The Countess of the Factory) (Kondou - Linaios - Rizos - Stefanidou Company)
1967 Dimitris Psathas Achortagos (The Insatiable) (Yannis Gionakis - Christina Silva - Yannis Michalopoulos - Smaro Stefanidou company) at the Alhambra Theatre
1967 Yorgos Roussos Exi fores tin evdomada (Six times per week) (in the summer, with the same company, at the Bournelli Theatre)

1967-1984

A small selection of her many theatrical appearances

Pirandello Il piacere dell'onesta' (The Pleasure of Honesty) (Yannis Fertis - Xenia Kalogeropoulou company)
Leonard Gershe.Butterflies are Free (Yannis Fertis - Xenia Kalogeropoulou company)
Kazantzakis Zorbas (Zorba the Greek) (Yannis Voglis - Smaro Stefanidou company, directed by Nikos Charalambous)
Julia (Aliki Vouyuklaki company)
Alexandre Dumas La dame aux camelias (Aliki Vouyuklaki company, directed by Mauro Bolognini)
Hit (Dimitris Horn company, Kappa theatre)
Euripides Trojan Women (translated and directed by Yannis Tsarouchis at the Kaplanon Street Theatre - in the role of Hecuba)
Yannis Dalianidis Ikosi yinekes ki ego (Twenty Women and I (Kostas Voutsas Company)
Robert Thomas Huit Femmes (Eight Women) (Kalouta Theatre)
Leonard Gershe The Ship of Fools (Bournelli Theatre)
Alexej Galin Retro (Titos Vandis Company, Broadway Theatre, 1984)
Francoise Sagan Bonheur, impair et passe (Christos Politis - Andonis Andypas Company, at the Simple Theatre)

Films

Year	Film	Transliteration	Role
1951	The Four Steps	Τα τέσσερα σκαλοπάτια Ta tessera skalopatia	Loukia Asprokotsyfa
1952	The Tower of Knights	Ο πύργος των ιπποτών O pyrgos ton ippoton	Orsa Delarossa
1953	Santa Chiquita	Σάντα Τσικίτα	Mrs. Delacovia
1954	A' 39 Year Miss	Δεσποινίς ετών 39 Despinis eton 39	Chrysanthi Karadari
1956	The jealous husband	Ο ζηλιαρόγατος O ziliarogatos	Mina Moutsopoulou
1957	The lover of all women	Ο γυναικάς O ghinaikas	Kotina Frabala-Zouboulou
1960	Three dolls and myself!	Τρεις κούκλες κι εγώ! Treis koukles ki ego	Hrissa
1960	Maddalena	Μανταλένα '	Pipitsa
1961	Woe to the young!	Αλλοίμονο στους νέους Allimono stous neous	Eleni
...	Voyage	Ταξίδι Taxidi
...	The lover is coming	Ο εραστής έρχεται O erastis erchetai
...	Lucky for me I've gone mad	Ευτυχώς τρελλάθηκα Evtyhos trellathika
1964	My Greek Wedding	Γάμος αλά Ελληνικά Gamos ala Ellinika	Petros' mother
1964	Aristeidis and his Ladies	Ο Αριστείδης και τα κορίτσια του O Aristidis ke ta koritsia tou	Evdokia
1967	Mia pendaras niata	Μιας πεντάρας νιάτα'	Marika Konstandinou
1968	The madman is the sanest of all	Ο τρελός τα 'χει 400	Sultana
1973	20 Ladies and I	20 γυναίκες κι εγώ 20 yinekes ki ego	Smaro Filippou

Television

Theatrical plays on television

Dimitris Psathas: "The coward and the brave"
Dimitris Psathas: "Dumb and dumber"
"Never lose faith"

etc.

Television series

Dimitris Nikolaidis: The mister, the mistress and the mama
Yannis Tziotis: Love stories
"The last grandchildren" (from Tasos Athanasiadis' novel)
Yorgos Konstandinou: "All four of them were wonderful"

Radio

She took part, for a great number of years, in many theatrical and literary radio shows, as well as in radio serials such as:

"The tongue that embroiders" and
"Baroness Staff".

She read, in installments, the novels:

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Miriam Seegar, American silent film actress and interior designer died she was , 103.

Miriam Seegar Whelan , was an American silent film actress died she was , 103..

(September 1, 1907 – January 2, 2011)

Born in Greentown, Indiana, she made her film debut in 1928. Her first film was The Price of Divorce, in which she starred alongside Frances Day and Rex Maurice. The film was never released, but was adapted for sound and released two years later as Such Is the Law. She followed that with a lead role in Valley of the Ghosts the same year. She starred in four films in 1929 and six films in 1930, including New Movietone Follies of 1930 and The Dawn Trail opposite Western film star Buck Jones. In 1931 and 1932, she made a total of six films, all B-movies, and retired from acting in 1933, after which she married and had children, later finding employment as an interior decorator.
In 2000, Seegar appeared in the documentary I Used to Be in Pictures, which featured commentary from many of her contemporaries. Seegar died on January 2, 2011, according to her daughter-in-law Harriet Whelan. She was 103 years old. Her death leaves, aside from child performers such as Mickey Rooney and Baby Peggy, only Barbara Kent (last silent adult actress) and Frederica Sagor Maas (adult silent screen writer) as silent film veterans still alive as of January 2011.
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Patricia Smith, American actress (The Spirit of St. Louis, The Bob Newhart Show, The Debbie Reynolds Show), died from heart failure she was , 80

Patricia Smith Lasell was an American actress who appeared in film and television roles from the early 1950s through the 1990s died from heart failure she was , 80.

(February 20, 1930 – January 2, 2011)

Career

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Smith appeared in a 1953 episode of Kraft Television Theater titled "A Room and a Half". In 1957, she appeared in two films, The Bachelor Party with Don Murray and The Spirit of St. Louis with James Stewart.
Although she appeared primarily on television during the 1960s and 1970s, including a recurring role on The Bob Newhart Show during its initial season (1972–1973), she played Jack Lemmon's wife in the 1973 feature film Save the Tiger, for which Lemmon won an Oscar. Smith continued to appear in supporting roles on television and in films through the late 1990s. She played Doctor Sara Kingsley in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Unnatural Selection". Her final acting role was in the 1997 film Mad City starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta.

Death

Smith, a diabetic for many years, died of heart failure on January 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

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Margot Stevenson, American stage and radio actress (The Shadow) died she was , 98.

Margot Stevenson was an American stage and radio actress, known for her role as Margo Lane in the radio adaptation of "The Shadow", opposite Orson Welles in 1938 died she was , 98..^[1]^[2]

(February 8, 1912 – January 2, 2011)

Stevenson was born in Manhattan on February 8, 1912. ^[2] She was the daughter of Irish-born actor Charles Alexander Stevenson, who was 60 years old when she was born, and his second wife Frances Riley, who was 22 years old at the time.^[2] She graduated from Brearley School in Manhattan.^[2] Stevenson was about to enroll at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, when the Great Depression began.^[2] She decided to pursue acting to earn an income instead of attending Bryn Mawr.^[2]
Stevenson made her Broadway debut in The Firebird in 1932.^[1]
Stevenson died at her home in Manhattan on January 2, 2011 at the age of 98.^[2] She was survived by her daughter, actress Margot Avery.^[1]

Filmography

Although she was primarily a stage actress, she made a number of movie appearances, including the following:

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Szeto Wah, Hong Kong political activist, died from lung cancer he was , 79.

Szeto Wah ^[2] was a politician of the pan-democracy camp of Hong Kong. He was formerly the chairman of The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China and a member of the Legislative Council from 1985 to 1997 and 1998 to 2004.
Although the Hong Kong government prior to as well as after the British handover shunned him for his opposition to their policies, Szeto was admired in Hong Kong politics for his strong principles, for eschewing personal gain, and for his rare political acumen. According to commentator Stephen Vines, the Chinese central government appointed Szeto to the Basic Law Drafting Committee because they appreciated his political significance, even though they disliked his ideas.^[3]
Aside from his political career, Szeto was also well known for his Chinese calligraphy skills.^[4] He was referred to as "Uncle Wah" (華叔) by Hong Kong people.

(28 February 1931 – 2 January 2011)

Biography

Szeto Wah was born in Hong Kong in 1931 with ancestry from Kaiping, Guangdong.^[1] Ten years later his poor family fled to their ancestral home from Hong Kong due to the Japanese bombing in Second Sino-Japanese War.^[5] He enrolled in Queen's college and graduated from Grantham College of Education.^[5] He entered the teaching profession in 1952,^[5] and became headmaster of the GCEPSA Kwun Tong Primary School in 1961.^[6]
He became a baptized Christian in 1974.^[5]

Political career

1940s

Szeto was a core member of the pro-communist Hok Yau Dancing Club, of which he remained a member until 1958.^[5]

1970s

In 1973 he led the Hong Kong teacher's strike protest when the government proposed to cut teachers' salaries by 15%.^[5] He then founded the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union in 1974.^[5] Under his leadership, the HKPTU expanded rapidly and eventually became the most powerful pressure group in the late 70s to 80s.^[7] Szeto stepped down from the union president in 1990.^[6]
In 1978 he led the first "Chinese- language movement" in Hong Kong to get mother-tongue classes introduced in secondary schools.^[5] That same year he played a leading role in solving the Precious Blood Golden Jubilee Secondary School (寶血會金禧中學) issue involving the "Golden Jubilee school corruption incident" (金禧事件).^[1] Louise do Rosario, writing in The Standard, called him the doyen of the Hong Kong pressure groups and "one of the most influential persons in Hong Kong's political scene since mid-70s.^[8] He led a second Chinese language movement in 1979 when the University of Hong Kong said receiving new students do not need a passing grade in Chinese language courses.

1980s

In 1982 Szeto led an anti-Japanese protest to denounce official Japanese whitewashing of atrocities during the 1930s and 40s in China in history textbooks (such as Nanking Massacre).^[5] Szeto was elected in 1985 and in 1988 to the Legislative Council through the functional constituency of the education sector.^[5]^[6]
In 1985 Szeto, along with Martin Lee, was appointed to the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law.^[5] Stephen Vines suggested Szeto was appointed because the central government appreciated his political significance, notwithstanding their dislike for his ideas.^[3]
In 1989, following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, his relation with the Communist Party of China became strained.^[5], Szeto established the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China which advocates an end to the single-party ruling of China,^[5] and which the Beijing leadership regards as subversive. He remained the organisation's chairman for 21 years, until his death in early 2011.^[6] During 1989, he and Martin Lee organised protests against Beijing and withdrew from the drafting committee of Hong Kong Basic Law after the incident. Both were banned from visiting mainland China.^[5]
Szeto was a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference delegate since 1983, but boycotted its meetings after June 1989.^[9]

1990s

In 1990 Szeto would help form the United Democrats of Hong Kong,^[5] considered the territory's first political party.^[4] He returned to Kowloon East in 1991 and in the redrawn constituency in 1995.^[1] In the 1998 and 2000 election, he was returned through the multi-member constituency in the same area. During his tenure in the Legislative Council, the group would evolve into the Democratic Party.^[2] Time once described him as "democracy's foot soldier", and named him one of the 25 most influential people in Hong Kong.^[4]

2000s

On 25 May 2007 Szeto Wah was speaking at a radio show broadcast from Mong Kok street hosted by Citizen's radio. The topic of the program involved the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest. Eight people including Szeto were charged.^[10] Critics have argued that the Hong Kong government has selectively persecuted Szeto for using unlicensed equipment when delivering the political message as other members have spoken on the radio and were not charged.^[10] In a democratic conference in 2007, Szeto publicly stated that the People's Liberation Army is controlled by the Communist Party of China and not the country. He reiterated that the army is a tool to ensure the party's authoritarian rule.^[11]
In 2008 he transferred more than $781,000 in donation collected by the alliance to the Hong Kong Red Cross as relief for the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.^[5]
Szeto has long supported the commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen protest and his group organizes annual candlelight vigils every 4 June. The 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 drew a crowd of 150,000.^[2] Although Szeto has mainly been critical of mainland authorities, he made a controversial surprising move in May 2010 in support of the Consultation Document on the Methods for Selecting the Chief Executive and for Forming the LegCo in 2012 after the central government had endorsed the Democratic Party's proposal to revise it.^[5] Democratic Party Chairman Albert Ho said that Szeto Wah played an influential role in the decision-making process, but was not the one to make the final decision.^[12]

Death and funeral

In 2010 Szeto announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, for which he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment.^[13] He dismissed as "crocodile tears" Regina Ip's urging of Beijing to allow him to return to the mainland. He also ruled out seeking medical attention there, saying he would seek to visit Tan Zuoren and Liu Xiaobo.^[14]
Szeto died at the Prince of Wales Hospital on 2 January 2011, aged 79.^[2]^[15] In a service at St Andrew's Church in Tsim Sha Tsui, bells tolled six long and four short times, representing the victims of the Tiananmen Square protests.^[16] In accordance with his wishes, Szeto's body was cremated; half the ashes to be scattered in HK waters, the other half scattered in a garden at Cape Collinson Crematorium.^[15]
Exiled mainland dissidents Wang Dan and Wu'erkaixi had expressed their strong desire to attend the funeral. Pan-democrats petitioned the Hong Kong Government to allow them to enter Hong Kong to attend Szeto's funeral on compassionate grounds under the One country, two systems principle,^[17] although Rita Fan said the request represented a huge dilemma for the government as it would set a precedent.^[18] On 10 January, Wang Guangya, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, declared that decision on whether to allow dissidents to enter was in the hands of the Hong Kong government; he expressed confidence that they would "handle it well".^[19] On 26 January, the government announced that the application of Wang Dan to enter Hong Kong had been declined by after "careful consideration"; spokesman said the decision was made based on the potential "consequences" of allowing him in. The decision was denounced by Wang, Wu'er Kaixi, and democratic legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, saying that the government had surrendered the principle of "One country, two systems".^[20]
Outgoing RTHK Director of Broadcasting Franklin Wong was criticised by his staff and others for not holding a live webcast of the funeral.[2]

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