TV Obits: Court, Grasshoff, Byrne, Oliver, Gilford
- Hazel Court: She was the actress known as the “Scream Queen.” Besides appearing in such classic horror flicks as The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, and The Curse of Frankenstein, she also did a lot of TV, including episodes of The Twilight Zone, Mannix, Mission: Impossible, Burke’s Law, The Wild, Wild West, Gidget, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Rawhide, McMillan & Wife, and many other shows. She died of a heart attack at age 82.
- Alex Grasshoff: He was a TV and film director/producer (he won and Oscar for Young Americans in 1969 but had to give it back when his film was declared ineligible) who worked on such shows as The Rockford Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Toma, The Rookies, CHiPs, several National Geographic Specials and several ABC Afterschool Specials. He died after surgery at age 79.
- Johnny Byrne: He wrote for several TV shows, including Space: 1999, Doctor Who, All Creatures Great and Small, Tales of the Unexpected, Noah’s Ark, One By One, Heartbeat, and many others. He died on April 2.
- Stephen Oliver: He played Lee Webber on Peyton Place and appeared on many other showed, including Bracken’s World, Streets of San Francisco, The Immortal, CHiPs, Starsky & Hutch, and Code R. He died of cancer at age 68.
- Madeline Lee Gilford: Sometimes credited as Madeline Lee (she was married to actor Jack Gilford for 40 years), Gilford made several apperances as a judge on Law and Order and appeared on such shows as Mad About You and The Beat. She also appeared in such movies as The Savages, Save The Tiger, and Cocoon: The Return. She died at age 84.
Tribeca Movie Review: Invisibles
The following movie was screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.
Invisibles
Spotlight Narrative
2007, Spain
Dir: Wim Wenders, Isabel Coixet, Fernando León de Aranoa, Javier Corcuera, Mariano Barroso
The Doctors Without Borders organization sponsored this five-piece documentary on atrocities being committed and inflicted upon the underrepresented and poverty stricken around the world. These five filmmakers each create a heartbreaking vision of the state of affairs currently seen throughout towns and villages destroyed by war, famine, disease, and chaos. Focusing on individuals in Barcelona, the Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic, and Colombia, the five shorts relate the painful conditions that these people are living in and all the agony they have suffered.
Isabel Coixet’s film depicts the story of a Bolivian immigrant living in Barcelona, trying to take advantage of opportunities not offered to her back home. Working as a maid and nurse, the immigrant’s family is back home in Bolivia, being torn apart by disease and lacking aid from the government. They are forgotten because of their destitute position in life.
We are then taken to the Congo, where several women recount their horrid tales of rape and punishment under the rebel forces during their country’s civil war. These shocking stories are exposed in all their dark reality to the viewer, as Wim Wenders lets the ladies recall their experiences as a call to arms for change.
Fernando León de Aranoa recounts the tale of young boys and girls, orphaned due to the civil war in Uganda, that are preyed on by the rebels to join them and commit terrible violent acts. The children, aimed at because of their malleability and ease in training, live a life of constant fear of being kidnapped and loathe the prospect of even sleeping at night. However, there is a safe haven called Noah’s Ark set up by local activists, where the children arrive every night to sleep and be protected.
The fourth film, by Javier Corcuera, is a dramatized account of a big bad pharmaceutical company stepping on the afflicted people of the Central African Republic by not developing medicine they desperately need.
And the last film, by Mariano Barroso, focuses on the displaced people of a nation under constant warfare, Colombia. The survivors of years and years of upheaval narrate their heart-wrenching stories, while demonstrating great amounts strength at having survived for as long as they have.
A necessary project produced by Javier Bardem, Invisibles reaches the goal it aimed for, even if it eventually harshes the mellow of many who see it. One leaves the theater as if they had been punched in the stomach and kicked in the face. Not a film for everyone’s tastes.