Some Recent Deaths

Ron Silver (1946-2009)

Talented character actor best known to me as campaign strategist Bruno Gianelli on The West Wing. Silver, along with the likes of Dennis Miller, was one of a number of perceived liberal entertainers who moved to the right following the terrorist attacks of September 2001. West Wing writers incorporated this shift somewhat into the Gianelli character, who went to work for a Republican presidential candidate in the shows last 2 seasons.

Interesting Ron Silver fact: He had a masters degree in Chinese history (who knew?).

Betsy Blair (1923-2009)

Blair paid Ernest Borgnine’s plan Jane love interest in 1955’s Oscar winning Marty. That was an emotionally important movie to me for a time, and the idea of ending up with a Blair-like characters left mixed emotions. She warrants mention here.

Natasha Richardson (1963-2009)

I haven’t really followed her work, I didn’t even know that she was married to Liam Neeson until she died. I happened to catch the scene in Batman Begins where the Nesson's character talks about his wife’s death, just a week or so after Richardson died, watching it felt weird and haunting.

Maurice Jarre (1924-2009)

The composer for the memorable scores for such David Lean films as Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, and A Passage to India. Even with all Lean;s talents, could those films have been the same without Jarre’s iconic compositions, I think not.