One of European cinema’s most distinctive, fearless and tireless narrative and documentary filmmakers, Eckhart Schmidt, died of natural causes at his home in Munich on Oct. 25, only a few days before his 86th birthday.  His best-known film, the psychological horror thriller, “The Fan,” was graphic and shocking when it premiered in 1982, and its stomach-churning […]

Teri Garr, the comic actress and singer who brought her buoyant personality to “Young Frankenstein” and was Oscar-nominated for “Tootsie,” died on Tuesday in Los Angeles after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. She was 79. An influential performer to comedians including Tina Fey, Garr was a familiar face in dozens of TV shows and […]

Steve Morse, one of the nation’s most established and well-respected music critics during his three-decade run at the Boston Globe, died Saturday at age 76. Morse died under care Care Dimensions Hospice in Lincoln, Mass. He had announced to friends on social media that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, 10 days […]

Paul Morrissey, a fixture of New York’s cinema scene whose collaborations with Andy Warhol in the ’60s and ’70s reinvented the American underground and made local legends of amateur actors and transgender performers, died Monday at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 86. Morrissey’s death was confirmed by archivist Michael Chaiken to the New York […]

Jeri Taylor, the Emmy-nominated producer, showrunner, director and writer known for her work on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Voyager,” which she co-created, has died. She was 86. Taylor died Thursday, Oct. 24, the official “Star Trek” website announced. Taylor joined the “Next Generation” team during its fourth season in 1990. By […]

Bassist Phil Lesh, whose dense, inventive playing powered the Grateful Dead and, following the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia, many of the San Francisco band’s touring reincarnations, died Friday. He was 84. The news was posted on his official Instagram page with the message “Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, […]

Kim Soo-mi, a veteran female actor who had been active in the South Korean film and TV industries for over 50 years, died on Friday. Korean media reported that Kim was found unconscious at her home in Seoul and was transported to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital at 8am Friday, Korean local time. There she was […]

Jack Jones, a singer who found fame and chart success on the easy-listening side of the street in the 1960s, and who later became etched in television-watching America’s psyche with the “Love Boat” theme, died Wednesday at 86. Jones died of leukemia at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif., his wife of 15 years, Eleanora […]

Film and TV writer-producer Alan Sacks, who had an eclectic career that included co-creating the popular 1970s series “Welcome Back, Kotter” and working on projects set in the 1980s L.A. punk scene, died of complications from lymphoma on Tuesday in New York. He was 81. Sacks was born in Brooklyn and started his career in […]

Veteran visual effects producer Nancy St. John, whose credits include the films “Babe” and “Gladiator” (both of which won VFX Oscar kudos), has died at the age of 70, the Visual Effects Society confirmed. St. John held a career in VFX and computer animation that spanned more than four decades. She was a former VES […]

Lynda Obst, who had producing credits on high-profile films including “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Flashdance” and “Adventures in Babysitting,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles. She was 74. “I was immensely proud of her. She was a trailblazer for women in the industry at a time when it was very difficult for women to have prominent roles. […]

Richard Pope, the British cinematographer who collaborated with director Mike Leigh across his career and earned an Oscar nomination for his work lensing Leigh’s 2014 biopic “Mr. Turner,” has died. Pope’s death was confirmed by the British Society of Cinematographers in a statement released Tuesday. “It is with deepest sadness that we learn of the […]

Mimi Hines, the Canadian comedian and stage actress who succeeded Barbra Streisand in the Broadway production of “Funny Girl,” has died. She was 91. Hines died of natural causes on Oct. 21 in her home in Los Vegas, according to her long-time attorney, Mark Sendroff. Hines got her Hollywood break performing on “The Tonight Show” […]

Mitzi Gaynor, star of 1950s big-screen musicals including “South Pacific” and “Les Girls” and a series of beloved variety specials in the 1970s, died on Thursday. She was 93. Gaynor’s management team, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, confirmed to Variety that she died of natural causes. “For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on […]

Libby Titus, a singer who recorded two albums in the late 1960s and ’70s before retiring from the music scene, later becoming the wife of Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, died Sunday at age 77. No cause of death was given. Fagen announced her death on Steely Dan’s website. “My beautiful wife, Libby Titus Fagen, passed […]

Arlene Winnick, a veteran publicist in Hollywood for over 30 years and an integral part of Solters & Digney and its successor Digney & Co. Public Relations, died in Beverly Hills on Oct. 1 from an extended illness. A native of Great Neck, N.Y., Winnick helped pioneer marketing and publicity campaigns for one of the […]

Ka, a renowned independent Brooklyn rapper, producer and 9/11 first responder, died at the age of 52. The emcee, whose real name is Kaseem Ryan, unexpectedly passed away on Oct. 12, according to a post on his social media accounts. Throughout his career, the rapper and producer self-released 11 independent albums, and as a member […]

Richard “Dick” Block, the former president of Kaiser Broadcasting who went on to found Block Communications and teach at USC, died Sept. 30. He was 97. As president of Kaiser Broadcasting, he built independent TV stations in top markets including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco. As executive VP of the […]

Toni Vaz, an actor and activist who created the NAACP Image Awards, died on Oct. 4 in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 101. Vaz’s parents immigrated to the U.S. from Barbados and she was one of four siblings raised in New York City in the 1950s. Her mother did not allow her to watch movies. […]