Passings

Teri Garr only has a handful of lines in The Conversation, and when she’s done with her scene she never appears again, but she breaks my heart as Harry Caul’s secret girlfriend who wants more than he’s willing to give and so chooses herself. “Harry, I was so happy when you came over tonight,” she says, “when I heard you open up the door, my toes were dancing under the covers. But I don’t think I’m going to wait for you anymore.”

I meant for this to be posted last night. Better late than never.

As the songwriter of legendary compositions like “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” and “Me and Bobby McGee,” Kris Kristofferson transformed lyrics into literature, elevating the craft to a legitimate American art form in a way few had done before. Part Romantic poet, part folk troubadour, part country-music storyteller, Kristofferson died Saturday at the age of 88.

In a career that began in the 1950s, her roles ranged from Desdemona to Miss Jean Brodie, Virginia Woolf and Minerva McGonagall

Used to watch Brodie with K.

Jones starred in dozens of films including Field of Dreams, Coming To America and Conan the Barbarian. He was best known for giving the Star Wars supervillain Darth Vader his distinctive gravelly voice.

Sergio Mendes, the Brazilian-born pianist, composer and arranger who brought bossa nova music to a global audience in the 1960s through his ensemble, Brasil ’66, and remained a force in popular music for more than six decades, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 83.

His family said in a statement that his death, in a hospital, was caused by long Covid.

h/t Osumashi

US: Famous sex therapist ‘Dr. Ruth’ dead at 96

Best-selling author and sex therapist Ruth Westheimer, better known simply as Dr. Ruth, died on Friday aged 96 in her home in New York City.

She passed away in the company of her family, according to her publicist and friend Pierre Lehu.

Shannen Doherty, ‘Beverly Hills 90210’ and ‘Charmed’ Star, Dies at 53

Shannen Doherty, known for her roles in on the wildly popular series “Beverly Hills, 90210” and on the witchcraft fantasy “Charmed,” has died after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She was 53.

Eccentric fitness icon Richard Simmons dies at 76

Richard Simmons, the legendary fitness instructor who reached massive celebrity status, has died at the age of 76, KTLA has confirmed.

The Los Angeles Fire Department told KTLA that it received reports of a “cardiac arrest suspected death” at 1350 Belfast Drive in the Hollywood Hills at 9:55 a.m.

Officials called the death “natural.”

h/t Everyone who sent these in

Shelley Duvall, the saucer-eyed, rail-thin waif who starred in seven films directed by her mentor, Robert Altman, and avoided the ax wielded by an unhinged Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, died Thursday. She was 75.