Category Archives: Tributes

Ed Charpentier remembered at Costume Con 35

Some of you will remember Ed Charpentier, Candy Man at Toronto Trek 7, 1993, and Radio active hamsters at Conadian, 1994.

He passed away last year, and is included in this memorial which was shown at Costume Con in Toronto.


Presented during the Costume-Con 35 Science Fiction Masquerade halftime, to recognize those in the community lost in the previous year.

Lawrence Montaigne, 1931-2017

http://www.startrek.com/article/remembering-lawrence-montaigne-1931-2017

StarTrek.com is saddened to report the passing of Lawrence Montaigne, the veteran actor who played the Romulan, Decius, in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Balance of Terror” in 1966 and returned a year later to portray Stonn, a Vulcan, in “Amok Time.” The actor died on Friday, March 17, at the age of 86.


His film and TV credits are extensive, his favourite role being that of the Canadian prisoner of war in The Great Escape. See the article in IMDB.

Sir John Vincent Hurt, CBE (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hurt

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000457/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

(2011, on Spaceballs (1987)) Mel [Brooks] called and said, “Look, John, I’m doing this little movie and there’s a bit in there that has to do with Alien (1979), so come on over.” He made it sound like a bit of a picnic. He also did that to me on History of the World: Part I (1981). He always does that. “Come on, I’ll give you a couple grand, we’ll put you up in a nice hotel, you’ll have a good time, and then you can go back again.” And when you get there, you suddenly realize, it’s a $3 million scene-God knows how much the animatronic singing and dancing alien cost-and they couldn’t possibly have done it if it hadn’t been for you. What I’m saying is, I think he got me rather cheap.

I had no idea that Doctor Who (2005) had got so huge; I just thought, “Brilliant, I’ll be a Doctor!” I was suddenly – what do they call it? You start “trending”. This is all new to me!

Of course you have to remember that the Doctors are all one person, so I’m not outside of that. I can’t talk about it, but I will say I was really impressed when I did it. Both the previous doctors – Matt Smith and David Tennant – boy, are they good at it. Whoa-wee! They are so quick, and there’s a huge amount of learning and no time to learn it in. All that fake scientific nonsense. Terribly difficult to learn.
I’ve done a couple of conferences where you sit and sign autographs for people and then you have photographs taken with them and a lot of them all dressed up in alien suits or Doctor Who (2005) whatevers. I was terrified of doing it because I thought they’d all be loonies, but they are absolutely, totally charming as anything. It’s great fun. I’m not saying it’s the healthiest thing – I don’t know whether it is or isn’t – but they are very charming.
[on the original series of Doctor Who (1963)] I don’t think I saw the first episode and I think it escaped me for quite a long time. It was a kiddies’ programme, or it was assumed to be. It was known basically for the fact that all the scenery used to fall over.

Les Lupien’s passing is noted on SF Site

LUPIEN OBIT. SF Site News reports that Montreal fan Leslie Lupien (1921-2016) died on October 25.

Obituary: Leslie Lupien


Montreal fan Leslie Lupien (b.1921) died on October 25. Lupien was active in MONSFFA, the Montreal Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, and at the time of his death was the organization’s oldest member. Lupien also published several short stories, beginning in 1996 with “Sanitary Zone” and continuing through 2009 with “Wotan.”

Does Keith have THIS one?

Oddly, this movie was not mentioned in any obits I read, such as the one in the Gazette. Thankfully, there is File 770 to fill in the blanks!  I looked up the IMDB link, and found she had a role in an episode of what must have been an appalling TV show:  Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126175/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2

GABOR OBIT. Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016) died December 18. Her Internet Movie Database bio says —

Undoubtedly the woman who had come to epitomize what we recognize today as “celebrity”, Zsa Zsa Gabor, is better known for her many marriages, personal appearances, her “dahlink” catchphrase, her actions, life gossip, and quotations on men, rather than her film career.

Her biggest genre credit was the movie Queen of Outer Space. She also appeared in Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and episodes of Night Gallery (segment “The Painted Mirror”), Batman, and Supertrain.

queen-of-outer-space

Ron Glass (Barney Miller, Firefly) has passed away

From IMDB: Updated 2:41 p.m. Pt: Glass’ agent has confirmed to TheWrap that the actor died on Friday night due to respiratory failure. Previously: Ron Glass, known for his roles on “Barney Miller” and “Firefly,” has died at age 71, TheWrap has confirmed. Glass was born in Evansville, Indiana, and made his onscreen debut in a 1973 guest spot on “All in the Family.” He would go on to appear on numerous shows over the next few years, including “Maude,” “Hawaii 5-0” and “The Bob Newhart Show.” His big break, however, came in 1975 when he was cast as Det. Ron Harris on the popular comedy. »

  Read tributes from Firefly cast here.

Read more from Wikipedia and Variety:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Glass

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/ron-glass-dead-barney-miller-firefly-dies-1201927179/

Tribute to Terry Pratchett

Trailer for The Turtle Moves, tributes to Terry Pratchett filmed at Sasquan.

 

 

Dave Kyle (1919-2016)

david-a-kyle-at-chicon-7
David A. Kyle at Chicon 7. Photo by John L. Coker III.

Dave Kyle has passed away. Some years ago, he was a guest at Con*Cept, staying with Anne Methe and Jean-Pierre-Normand.

Aged 97, his passing is hardly unexpected, and yet he was one of those people you always expect to be there.

Posted in Locus online:
Author, illustrator, and fan David A. Kyle, 97, died September 18, 2016 of complications from an endoscopy. Kyle was a member of First Fandom, active in SF since 1933, and a founding member of the Futurians. He chaired NYCon II, the 14th Worldcon in 1956, and was fan guest of honor ConStellation, the 41st Worldcon, in 1983. Kyle published countless essays and letters in fanzines, and illustrated covers and interiors for many books. He received the Big Heart Award in 1973, and was inducted into the First Fandom Hall of Fame in 1988.Kyle co-founded Gnome Press with Martin Greenberg in 1948, one of the premier small presses of the era, and designed many of the dustjackets for their publications. The press closed in 1962. He wrote the text for two extensively illustrated books on SF: BSFA Award winner A Pictorial History of Science Fiction (1976) and The Illustrated Book of Science Fiction Ideas and Dreams (1977). He was an occasional fiction writer, with first story “Golden Nemesis” appearing in Stirring Science Stories (1941); he also illustrated the piece. He wrote three books set in his friend E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series: The Dragon Lensman (1980), Lensman from Rigel (1982), and Z-Lensman (1983).David Ackerman Kyle was born February 14, 1919 in Monticello NY. He married fellow fan Ruth Evelyn Landis in 1957 (they met at a convention), and they went to the Worldcon in England for their honeymoon on a specially chartered flight with friends and family. She predeceased him in 2011. Kyle is survived by a son, a daughter, and grandchildren.
Posted on File 770 September 18, 2016

 

Posted by File 770:

David A. Kyle, who chaired the 1956 Worldcon (NyCon II) and was fan Guest of Honor at the 1983 Worldcon (ConStellation), died September 18 at 4:30 p.m. EDT “of complication from an endoscopy” reports his daughter Kerry.

Just yesterday Kyle had been shown on Facebook enjoying New York fandom’s “End of Summer” party.

Kerry Kyle wrote:

I know he was 97 and frail, but his spirit was strong, his heart was huge, and I’m still in shock. I’m still surprised. I expected him to last a few more years. I expected to be making him dinner tonight. And I’m bereft. And at the moment I don’t really want to type much.

I know many in the Fannish community loved Dad as well and are equally as bereft reading this. I hope it …makes you feel better to know that, as always, Dad chatted about science fiction with the EMT who brought him to the hospital and with the nurses who made him comfortable. He chatted about the love of his life–science fiction–genuinely interested in hearing what they read and watched. Always spreading the word and wishing to instill within them the flame he had within himself. And, yes, he made constant jokes and terrible puns that charmed everyone in the hospital….

Dave’s wife, Ruth, predeceased him in 2011. They met at a convention in 1955. The next year she served as Secretary of the Worldcon in New York, which Dave chaired, and the year after that they married, trufannishly honeymooning at the 1957 Worldcon in England, traveling there with 53 friends and in-laws on a specially chartered flight.

Dave and Ruth had two children, Arthur and Kerry.

Kyle was one of the most active fans from sf fandom’s earliest days. He attended the 1936 meeting of New York and Philly fans which decided to dub itself the first science fiction convention in advance of the Leeds event announced for 1937. He wrote the “Yellow Pamphlet” that helped inspire the “The Great Exclusion Act of 1939” but, unlike his fellow Futurians, was not kicked out of the First Worldcon. In later years he was made a Knight of The Order of Saint Fantony, won the Big Heart Award, and in 1988 received the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award.

Kyle also had a notable professional sf career. Dave Kyle and Martin Greenberg made history by co-founding Gnome Press in 1948. Together they published dozens of volumes of classic sf in hardcover for the first time. Gnome Press went under in 1962.

Kyle’s 1956 NyCon II is particularly remembered for producing the year’s Hugo Awards by affixing Oldsmobile rockets to a decorative wooden backing. The L-shaped base displayed the rocket standing upright while concealing its hollow underside.

A list of Kyle’s autobiographical fanhistory articles for Mimosa can be found here.

Arthur C. Clarke receives Hugo Award from chairman Dave Kyle at the 1956 Worldcon, NyCon II.

Arthur C. Clarke receives Hugo Award from chairman Dave Kyle at the 1956 Worldcon, NyCon II.

See also: Dave Kyle Remembered in Photos

Kenny Baker has passed away

The 3ft 8in actor, who starred in six Star Wars films as well as Time Bandits and Flash Gordon, was 81.

READ MORE

 

‘Babylon 5’ star Jerry Doyle Dead at 60

http://www.tmz.com/2016/07/28/jerry-doyle-babylon-5-dead/