Kitt
Newman
Ledger
Heston
Carlin
Four giants of the silver screen, a comic virtuoso who fit comfortably into film, a director/actor with an uncommon ability to locate the public pulse, a singer-actress of singular distinction, Fred Astaire's sexiest dance partner and a bevy of fine character actors, writers and producers lead a somber list of movie world figures who died in 2008.
Paul Newman and Charlton Heston were two of the last great 20th-century movie stars, men who captured filmgoers' imagination first within the studio system, then as independents who chose the characters they would play and the films they would help endure.
Where Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the sullen, defiant American male, Newman made him an impudent and (mostly) likable maverick.
Heston, stalwart and heroic in bearing, won a corner in costume epics and historical figures before scaling it back in later years in "character" parts.
As stars, both were icons, as big as could be. But not far behind was the versatile Richard Widmark, equally adept at sympathy or villainy. And though his most concentrated impact was on the British stage, Paul Scofield gave a handful of some of the most accomplished performances in movie history, most notably in "A Man for All Seasons."
Comedian George Carlin, filmmaker Sydney Pollack, actress-chanteuse-cabaret star Eartha Kitt, dancer-actress Cyd Charisse and the eternal All-American Boy, actor Van Johnson, also will be missed, as will actor Roy Scheider, actress Suzanne Pleshette and, not least, a gifted star much too young to have departed, Heath Ledger.
As long as there are movies, their work is immortal.
A golden roll
The list of stars lost to the movie world in 2008 includes:
Paul Benedict, actor, Dec. 1 at age 70.
George Carlin, comedian-actor-writer, June 22, age 71.
Cyd Charisse, dancer-actress, June 17, age 87.
Arthur C. Clarke, novelist and screenwriter, March 18, age 90.
Michael Crichton, director-screenwriter, Nov. 4, age 66.
Mel Ferrer, actor-director, June 2, age 90.
Nina Foch, actress, Dec. 5, age 84.
Beverly Garland, actress, Dec. 5, age 82.
Estelle Getty, actress, July 22, age 85.
Isaac Hayes, musician and actor, Aug. 10, age 65.
Charlton Heston, actor, April 5, age 84.
Van Johnson, actor, Dec. 12, age 92.
Evelyn Keyes, actress, July 4, age 92.
Eartha Kitt, singer-actress, Dec. 25, age 81.
Harvey Korman, actor, May 29, age 81.
Heath Ledger, actor, Jan. 22, age 28.
Bernie Mac, comedian-actor, Aug. 9, age 51.
Anthony Minghella, director-screenwriter, March 18, age 54.
Barry Morse, actor, Feb. 2, age 89.
Robert Mulligan, director, Dec. 20, age 83.
Lois Nettleton, actress, Jan. 18, age 80.
Paul Newman, actor-producer, Sept. 26, age 83.
Anita Page, actress, Sept. 6, age 98.
Suzanne Pleshette, actress, Jan. 19, age 70.
Sydney Pollack, director-producer-actor, May 26, age 74.
Ann Savage, Columbia-born actress, Dec. 25, age 87.
Roy Scheider, actor, Feb. 10, age 75.
Paul Scofield, actor, March 19, age 86.
Richard Widmark, actor, March 24, age 93.
Stan Winston, makeup artist-special effects wizard-producer/director, June 15, age 62.
Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707.
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Back in 1985, when I was just 10-years-old, my buddy Andy Nelms and I spent the entire summer trying to catch lizards. Every time we would catch one, we would put it in a container, label it and observe the lizard's behavior. Fast forward 25 years later, and wouldn't you know it, I still make poop jokes.
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