Animated Views Celebrity Obituary Thread

[Randall]

Most everything I loved the most about comics from the age of ten and up was by George. His astounding work delighted me with so many comics. Like Neal, I met George 3 times, and I own a few original sketches. His work will always be treasured by me. And, perhaps unlike Neal, he was not just admired but also loved by all. He was just a great guy.

[Dan]

I got to meet Pérez once at a convention. He had just joined CrossGen at the time, which was being touted as a major deal at the time, and was doing sketches at the booth. As such, there was a massive line. He was gracious enough to let me cut in just to simply autograph my copy of Avengers #1, but I was more enamored just watching him talk and draw.

One of my favorite episodes of Kevin Smith's show Comic Book Men was the gang visiting Pérez to commission him a Wonder Man illustration to help one of their own Mike Zapcic, who had lost his entire comic book collection to Hurricane Sandy and the piece would help in restarting. Pérez' wife threw in the bonus of donating one of his trademark Hawaiian shirts to be hung in the shop.

[James]

Norm Macdonald dead at 61.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv ... 235145692/

Norm Macdonald Shot Secret Final Netflix Stand-Up Special Before Passing

In a comedy first, the late actor-comedian self-shot a final hour of new stand-up to be released in the event of his death: "The material's fantastic. … I hope people appreciate that he did this."

[Daniel]

Pretty amazing! I'm both happy and melancholic. Kind of hope he starts off his opening like "If uh you’re watching this, uh, I'm dead!"

[Ben]

Not really animation related, but Tremors star Fred Ward just passed away.

And what do you know…there *is* an animation connection…of a tenuous kind — I always found this the most amusing thing…

https://youtu.be/soVTBNs8RTo?t=262

[Dan]

Was rather bummed to hear about this one. I rather liked Fred in what I managed to catch him in and his presence always caught my interest to at least check out what he was taking part in.

I've had it in my watchlist for forever, but I guess this is as good of a time as any to finally watch Cast a Deadly Spell. I hear it's rather good.

[GeffreyDrogon]

Well, James Caan died. So sad, as I liked him as Tim Lockwood in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

[Daniel]

He's walking on that beach forever now. Rest easy, Sonny.

[Ben]

Review for the old DVD but this is worth seeking in its Archives Blu edition:

https://animatedviews.com/2009/warner-a ... -the-bean/

Although Caan never quite made it to solo marquee status as able to carry a movie on his own, he remained a solid go-to guy for a huge number of serious and comical roles, as well as being the serious centre in comical films (Elf, for instance). Not always in successful films, he was always successful in the films he was in. RIP.

[Randall]

Well put. He was a really good actor, and had a fine career.

[Daniel]

And now Tony Sirico, probably best known as Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri in HBO's "The Sopranos", passes away at 79. Just a kid. Loved his short but memorable role as Vinny on "Family Guy".

[Ben]

Just before that, Larry Storch (prolific voice actor, F-Troop, the original Ghostbusters) passed away (at 99!) and then Gregory Itzin — evil president Logan on 24 among many others — at only 74. All great talents. RIP.

[Ben]

Prolific Brit actor, the great David Warner, perhaps best known here for being the villain(s) in Tron, a smaller role in Titanic '97 and an occasional Trek participant, has reached his end of line and left the game grid…

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 1235185664

This one hurts: I grew up and very much enjoyed watching him in many films and series, including The Man With Two Brains, Time Bandits, The Omen, Jor-El in Lois & Clark and a huge amount more, his last role being as Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins Returns.

Great actor and down to earth guy, he was always dependable, always solid and always genuine. It’s very sad to see him go.

RIP.

End of line.

[Dacey]

He did some great voice work as well, including Batman and Gargoyles. Plus he was a wonderful Bob Cratchit in the quite underrated George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol.

[ShyViolet]

He certainly did a terrifying and wonderful job as Gul Lemek in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Chain of Command.”

EDIT: It was Gul Madred.