In Passing: 2004, Part I

By Stephanie Star Smith

January 4, 2005

Each year at the Academy Awards, Hollywood takes a few moments to honor those who have joined the Choir Invisible during the previous year. Each year sees a number of people barely recognized even by their industry peers, much less the viewing audience, along with a smaller percentage of more widely-renowned names (and the inevitable few "I didn't know he/she died"). As the calendar year draws to a close, we here at BOP would like to acknowledge some of Hollywood's brightest luminaries who shuffled off their mortal coils in 2004 with a look back at the reasons why though they may be gone, they will certainly not be soon forgotten.

Spalding Gray

The first celebrity death of 2004 perhaps comes second as saddest. Celebrated monologist Spalding Gray had a wry wit and unique viewpoint that made his one-man shows, and the films resulting from same, not only entertaining but thought-provoking as well. As a well-respected scripter, both filmmakers and moviegoers knew that a movie written by Spalding Gray would stimulate the mind as well as delight the eyes. Gray also lent his unique presence to projects to which he did not contribute his pen, and always created an engaging performance.

But in 2001, Gray was in a car accident in Ireland, and was severely injured. For a long time afterward, Gray was unable to do what he loved most, write, and reportedly, he spiraled into a deep depression which only increased as time passed and his injuries prevented him from creating. And just at the point where it was rumored he was returning to writing, and in fact would tackle the accident and its aftermath, Gray was reported missing after leaving his family suddenly after a night out at the movies. As the days passed, no one wanted to think it, but it was on the minds of all: Spalding Gray had made good on his frequent references to following his mother's path and had taken his own life. When his body was discovered in the East River almost two months later, people were saddened, but few were surprised. Gray's family had lost their patriarch, and the movie industry had lost a unique talent, a commodity already far too rare in Hollywood. His independent vision will be sorely missed.

Ann Miller

Ann Miller was a hoofer. She started her career as a hoofer, became a star as a hoofer, and ended her career as a hoofer. In between, there were several marriages, stardom on Broadway and in the movies, and the eventual decline to TV denture commercials and appearances at state fairs and such. But in her heyday, Ann Miller could tap with the best of them. In fact, Hollywood considered her the second-best tap-dancer around; only Eleanor Powell was considered her better.

The woman born Lucille Ann Collier began taking dance classes in her native Texas in order to strengthen her legs after a bout of rickets. By the time she and her mother moved to California when Miller was nine, she was already well on her way to being a pro. Offered a contract at RKO if she could prove she was 18, the then-14-year-old acquired a fake birth certificate and from there on listed her birth year as 1919 (even though the 1930 Texas census told a different tale). She began appearing in small parts, and eventually left films for Broadway, where she was a smash hit in several musicals. During World War II, Miller was re-signed by Columbia and became a pin-up girl, appearing in a wide variety of musicals before once again leaving films, this time for marriage. Miller was sadly not quite the hit at marriage, and returned to Hollywood two years later, this time under contract to MGM, still in the Golden Age of Musicals at that point. Miller starred in such classics as Kiss Me Kate and Easter Parade before once again leaving show biz to marry. Having about as much success the second time around, and not improving on a third go, Miller finally gave up trying to be married and threw herself into her work, taking Broadway by storm and appearing in the smash '70s hit Sugar Babies with another well-known musical star, Mickey Rooney. And even when Miller eventually went the route of all Golden Age stars who wanted to continue working and started appearing in commercials, her 60-second spots were all about the dance; her soup commercials were mini-Busby-Berkeley-style musical productions, replete with chorus line. Miller gradually retired from the spotlight, resurfacing briefly in 2001 to appear in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, but otherwise remained out of the public view. But when the lung cancer she battled finally took her from this vale of tears on January 22nd, Ann Miller had left behind a lasting legacy of great dancing and marvelous comedy roles that will survive for many generations.

Paul Winfield

Paul Winfield’s career included many highlights. He came to prominence as a regular on the late-‘60s TV show Julia, which was considered notable at the time for featuring the first African-American woman in a lead role. Winfield went on to silver screen fame by appearing as the father in the original version of Sounder, which can perhaps best be described as an African-American version of Old Yeller. Critics saw the film as a welcome relief from the blaxploitation flicks in vogue at the time, and praised both Winfield and Cicely Tyson for their acting. Winfield’s career is studded with many prestigious film and television projects, including Roots: The Next Generation; the mini-series King, which cast Winfield in the title role of Martin Luther King, Jr; Wes Craven’s voodoo study The Serpent and the Rainbow; and the epic Civil War mini-series The Blue and the Gray. But to fans of the original Star Trek series, Winfield will always be remembered as the hapless commander of the USS Reliant, Captain Terrell, in Wrath of Khan, who became a pawn in Khan’s lust for vengeance against Captain James T Kirk. It is sometimes the least-expected roles that gain an actor immortality, and when Winfield succumbed to a heart attack on March 7th at the age of 63, he was remembered as much as, if not more than, for his role in Wrath of Khan as he was for appearing in Sounder. And being part of a franchise with such a strong and loyal fan-base is immortality indeed.

Peter Ustinov

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Sir Peter Ustinov appeared in many classic films, including Spartacus and Quo Vadis, and starred opposite many screen legends, including Humphrey Bogart, Richard Burton and David Niven. But it was as Agatha Christie’s French detective with all those little grey cells, Hercule Poirot, that Ustinov is perhaps most closely identified by moviegoers. Ustinov portrayed the master sleuth six times, both on the small screen and the silver screen, and came to be as identified with the part as Basil Rathbone was with Sherlock Holmes.

As with many British actors, Ustinov began in the theatre. However, unlike many of his contemporaries, Ustinov was primarily a writer. In fact, he debuted his first play, Home of Regrets, when he was 21 years old. He also co-scripted several of his own films, including Romanoff and Juliet and Spartacus. Ustinov was quite the Renaissance man; of Russian descent, he was fluent in French, German, English, Italian, Russian and Spanish, and could manage communication in Turkish and Greek. There was also a family history of military service - his father was said to have been a member of the British intelligence agency MI5 - and in fact, Ustinov served Great Britain in World War II, where his commander was none other than one-time co-star David Niven. But in addition to his role as Poirot, Ustinov is nearly as famous for the role he passed on. In 1963, he was scheduled to play Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the first Pink Panther film; although the production company, Mirisch, sued Ustinov for pulling out of the film, one can’t help but think Fate took a hand in things, as it is difficult to imagine Ustinov, although as capable of comedy as many an actor, assaying the role that Sellers made his signature.

When Ustinov departed to join the Choir Invisible March 28th due to heart failure, he left a vast store of great cinema and television behind, but it is as Hercule Poirot that he will live on in the minds of moviegoers everywhere, and it is as Poirot that his legacy is assured.

Part II

Mercedes McCambridge

Despite a long and illustrious career, Mercedes McCambridge is most remembered for the role where she didn’t receive credit, at least initially. It was the 1973 release The Exorcist that became, oddly enough, McCambridge’s signature role, yet the actress had to take Warner Bros to court in order to win the right to have her name added to the end credits.

Mercedes McCambridge began her career in radio, where her unique vocal talents allowed her to play many roles. She became quite the radio star in the ‘30s and ‘40s, and her credits even include a stint with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre. In 1949, McCambridge moved on to motion pictures, and received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in her first film, All the King’s Men. But it was her voiceover work once again that assured her place in Hollywood history...well, that and the ensuing legal battle. McCambridge became the voice of the possessed Regan, played of course by Linda Blair, in The Exorcist. Arguably the most important role in the film, McCambridge’s name was initially not included in the film’s end credits, despite having been assured by director William Friedkin that she would, indeed, be credited. McCambridge appealed to the Screen Actors Guild and also took Warner Bros, the film’s distributor, to court, and eventually won the right to be credited in the film. New prints were immediately made and distributed, and McCambridge became a bit of a mini-celebrity at the time, although whether it was her vocal performance in the film or the court battle that created the sensation would be a matter of debate. McCambridge took few film roles after The Exorcist, and had mostly retired by the time she was called to meet her Maker on March 2nd at the age of 88. But her work lives on, and she will doubtless scare the bejesus out of many generations to come with her voice work in The Exorcist.

Ronald Reagan

At first glance, it seems strange to have the 40th President of the United States as part of an article on Hollywood greats who have crossed the River Styx. But before he became the PotUS, before he was Governor of California, Ronald Reagan was an actor. He wasn’t in many memorable films; he was, in fact, a B-list actor who occasionally got small parts in A-list films, but he was an actor nonetheless (there are some who say he never stopped being an actor, but that is a discussion for another forum).

Reagan started his career as a sports announcer in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was tasked with calling Chicago Cubs games. Although he never attended a single game he announced, Reagan took the wire-service descriptions of the games and created a narrative to feed his listeners, a skill that would serve him well in his political career. Like many an aspiring performer, he went west, young man, in 1937, and ended up a contract player at Warner Bros. It was here that he would assay the role that he often referred to in later life, George “The Gipper” Gip, in Knute Rockne: All American. Far from the star of the picture, The Gipper does, however, have a pivotal scene; as he lies dying in a hospital, he asks the coach to exhort the team to “win one for the Gipper”, a phrase that Reagan would use ad nauseam when he became the US President. But before his entry into politics, he was most remembered for starring opposite a chimp in the Bonzo franchise, which may explain his desire to move into a different field.

Reagan first dipped his political toes into the water as the president of the Screen Actors Guild, an office he held from 1947 to 1952, and again from 1959 to 1960. Deciding politics was his game, Reagan ran for Governor of California, an office he won in 1966 and was re-elected to in 1970. He departed office in 1974, leaving California in much the same poor state as he would later leave the nation. From there, Reagan dropped out of sight for a time, until he threw his proverbial hat into the ring for the 1980 presidential race; he eventually went on to win the Republican nomination, and ultimately the Presidency.

During his terms in office, Reagan became known as the Great Communicator, largely because most of the populace felt he was speaking directly to them whenever he gave a speech. In fact, Reagan employed his acting skills to such great effect that he was credited with accomplishing a great many things for which he was simply the mouthpiece, a phenomenon that continues to this day. When Reagan left office in 1989, he had accumulated such goodwill from the American people that not even the Iran-Contra scandal that was already reaching its zenith tarnished him in any way. He had also managed to beat the aught year curse, becoming the first President in the history of the United States elected to office in a year ending in zero not to die in office, although John Hinckley came closer to continuing that curse than many knew at the time.

After leaving the White House, Reagan retired from public life, and it was divulged in 1993 that he was suffering from Alzheimer’s. His second wife, the former Nancy Davis, showed herself to be a devoted spouse by undertaking the role of his primary caregiver, shielding him from the outside world and nursing him until the end came on June 5th. Although the proximate cause of Ronald Reagan’s passing is listed as pneumonia, it was the underlying Alzheimer’s that put him in the state that led to his illness and ultimately to his trip with the Ferryman.

Though historians are already beginning to assess Reagan’s term in the White House without the emotion engendered by his presence, the public at large still mostly loves this man who seemed to be everyone’s grandfather. His great presence, his way with words, and his steadfast belief in America endeared him to many, and when he rung down the curtain on this earthly stage, the outpouring of grief and genuine sentiment went far beyond the borders of the US, something that the man playing opposite Bonzo likely never expected. Reagan’s legacy lives on in Washington, DC as much as, if not more than, it does in Hollywood, but it is arguable that he never would have made quite the impression in politics had he not learned the skills he did whilst toiling in Tinseltown.

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