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Mickey Gilbert, the fearless stunt performer who jumped off a cliff for Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and doubled for Gene Wilder in films including Blazing Saddles, Silver Streak and The Frisco Kid, has died. He was 87.

Gilbert died Monday of natural causes at his home in Camarillo, California, his oldest son, Tim Gilbert, also a stunt performer, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Early in his career, Gilbert was a horse wrangler in William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) and a bank robber in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Years later, he took the lumps for Lee Majors’ Colt Seavers on the 1981-86 ABC action show The Fall Guy.

Though they weren’t friends at the time, Gilbert and Redford were in the same class at Van Nuys High School, graduating in 1954. They got together on George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) when Redford...

We will probably never see a motion picture phenomenon like George Lucas' "Star Wars" ever again. The United States was still shaking off its Vietnam War hangover in the mid-1970s, and while the top filmmakers of the New Hollywood were mostly attracted to edgy material that explored its characters' damaged psyches, audiences were in the mood to escape. Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" offered emphatic proof of this mindset during the summer of 1975 when it briefly became the highest-grossing movie in U.S. box office history.

Lucas' space opera was an altogether different kind of sensation. The briskly paced yarn about a young farm boy who discovers he might be the galaxy's savior ignited the imaginations of kids the world over, and Lucas deepened the viewer's immersion by employing an array of pioneering special effects and wildly inventive creature/production designs. "Star Wars" was world-building on a scale that matched "The Wizard of Oz,...

Update, with DGA statement: Elliot Silverstein, who directed Jane Fonda and, in an Oscar-winning performance, Lee Marvin in the 1965 comedy-Western Cat Ballou, died Nov. 24 in Los Angeles. He was 96.

His death was announced by family members.

Born August 3, 1927, in Boson, Silverstein launched his directing career during television’s 1950s on such programs as Omnibus and the Alfred Hitchcock-produced mystery series Suspicion, Silverstein stayed busy with episodic series throughout the 1960s. Among his credits from the era: Route 66, Have Gun – Will Travel, Naked City, Dr. Kildare, The Defenders and four episodes of The Twilight Zone, including the fan-favorite, Rod Serling-penned 1961 installment titled The Passersby, a mournful ghost story set at the end of the American Civil War.

Lee Marvin in ‘Cat Ballou’

Silverstein’s TV career would continue, sporadically, through the 1990s when he directed four episodes of Tales From The Crypt and an episode of Picket Fences,...

The composer has been nominated for two Oscars and received seven Emmys.

US composer Laurence Rosenthal will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards this year. The 23rd edition of the awards ceremony will take place at Film Fest Gent on October 21.

Rosenthal has composed scores for over 100 films and television shows throughout his six decades-spanning career.

Known for his creative partnership with actor-director Peter Glenville, Rosenthal wrote original scores for three of his films throughout the 1960s, including Hotel Paradiso, The Comedians and the 1964 film Becket, for which he was nominated for an Acadamy Award.

William Lucking, the actor best known for his role as biker Piney Winston on the hit series “Sons of Anarchy,” died on Oct. 18 in his Las Vegas home. Lucking was 80.

“Although William often played toughs and strongmen, in his actual life he was an elegant man with a brilliant intellect who loved to argue about politics and current affairs, discuss philosophy and physics and assert fine-pointed opinions about art and poetry,” his wife Sigrid Insull Lucking wrote in an obituary posted on Facebook by his friend and fellow actor Stephen Macht.

Lucking famously played Samcro member Piermont “Piney” Winston on 35 episodes of Kurt Sutter’s FX crime drama “Sons of Anarchy,” from the start of the series through the fourth season (2008 to 2011).

Some more of Lucking’s most notable roles include Army Col. Lynch on “The A-Team” from 1983 to 1984, as well as Bajoran Furel on three episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine...

John Carpenter sure was busy in 1978; not only did he release the seminal Halloween, he also wrote and directed the taut TV movie Someone’s Watching Me! as well as co-writing Zuma Beach, another TV movie. But today we’re going to look at the other project he co-wrote, Eyes of Laura Mars, a slick theatrical thriller with a killer premise and enough Carpenter DNA to satisfy horror buffs.

Released in early August, Eyes (also the title of his original script) brought in around $20 million against a $7 million budget (not including ad expenses); a minor hit with audiences, and flatly received by most critics who felt its intended satirical targets - high fashion and the media’s portrayal of violence - were nothing more than window dressing in a drab storefront. But Eyes of Laura Mars does skewer its targets well enough, especially with the help of time and distance. When new,...

Born in the Big Apple in january of 1951, Sheldon Lettich moved with his family to the West Coast at a young age. After finishing High School, he joined the Marine Corps, serving his country for four years, one of them as a Radio Operator in Vietnam.

Partially based upon his experiences in Southeast Asia, he co-authored Tracers, a play seen in the Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and London stages, to great acclaim; It subsequently won the prestigious Drama Desk and L.A. Drama Critics Awards.

The writing of screenplays seemed like a natural progression and his writing eventually began attracting the attention of many Hollywood producers.

Since then, Lettich has become known as expert in testosterone-driven action extravaganzas, many of the films starring some of the silver screen´s best-loved slugfest protagonists: Sylvester Stallone (Sheldon shared screenwriting credit with Sly in the third cinematic episode of the Rambo series,...

Chosen to direct The Empire Strikes Back, he turned in one of the best sequels – and highest box-office earners – of all time

The film director Irvin Kershner, who has died aged 87, was known in the trade as a hired gun. His most famous film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the fifth episode in the Star Wars saga, is most commonly linked to its executive producer, George Lucas. Never Say Never Again (1983) is celebrated as the film in which Sean Connery made his comeback as James Bond after 12 years away from the role, the director merely providing the vehicle. Kershner's first feature, Stakeout On Dope Street (1958), was made under the aegis of Roger Corman, who usually gained the main credit for the films he produced. Yet, eclectic as Kershner seemed, his best films reveal a visual flair, with an eye for the telling detail and a sympathy for the rebel.

The Philadelphia...

Director Irvin Kershner has died at the age of 87. The American moviemaker, best known for directing "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back", passed away at his home in Los Angeles after a long illness. The news was confirmed by his goddaughter Adriana Santini on Monday, November 29.

Kershner began his career teaching photography at the University of Southern California, before stepping behind the camera to work on a number of TV shows and small screen movie "Stakeout On Dope Street" in 1958. His film career took off in the 1960s and he went on to direct a number of movies including "A Fine Madness" with Sean Connery in 1966, "Up the Sandbox" starring Barbra Streisand in 1972 and "The Return of a Man Called Horse" with Richard Harris in 1976.

He remains most famous for stepping behind the camera for the second "Star Wars" installment in 1980. After stepping away from the sci-fi franchise,...

Irvin Kershner, who directed "Empire Strikes Back," the 1980 sequel to George Lucas' original "Star Wars" film, died Saturday at his Los Angeles home after a 3-year battle with lung cancer. He was 87. "The world has lost a great director and one of the most genuine people I've had the pleasure of knowing," Lucas said in a statement. "Irvin Kershner was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. I knew him from USC - I attended his lectures and he was on the festival panel that gave the prize to my Thx short. I considered him a mentor." During his four-decade career, Kershner also directed "The Flim-Flam Man" (1967), "Up the Sandbox" (1972), "Eyes of Laura Mars" (1978), "The Return of a Man Called Horse" (1976) and "Never Say Never Again" (1983). In June, Kershner received a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. At the time of his death,...

Irvin Kershner has died at the age of 87. He leaves behind some recognizable films (The Flim Flam Man with George C. Scott; Eyes of Laura Mars with Faye Dunaway) and several sequels of various prominence (The Return of a Man Called Horse, Robocop II and the renegade James Bond film Never Say Never Again), never afraid to explore and extend the story of someone else's work. So, really, it's not a huge surprise in hindsight that he accepted the challenge of The Empire Strikes Back, the 1980 effort continuing the story that George Lucas started three years earlier with Star Wars . But could anybody have expected Kershner to knock this particular sequel out of the f*cking park?...

1926 – 2010

Veteran comic actor Leslie Nielsen, star of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has died at the age of 84.

He died in hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he was being treated for pneumonia, his agent John S Kelly said.

Canadian-born Nielsen started out as a serious actor but in 1980, his role as a hapless doctor in the disaster spoof film Airplane! made him a comic star.

In all, he appeared in more than 100 films and had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

1923 – 2010

Irvin Kershner, director of Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back, has died in Los Angeles aged 87, his agent has confirmed.

Kershner - who also directed James Bond film Never Say Never Again - died at home after a long illness, according to his goddaughter Adriana Santini.

Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Kershner trained as a musician before making documentaries and then features.

His other credits include Robocop...

Man behind arguably the best Star Wars adventure has died at the age of 87 after a long illness

Irvin Kershner, the Hollywood journeyman who directed the darkest – and arguably best – Star Wars adventure of them all has died after a long illness. He was 87.

Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Kershner made his feature debut with the 1958 teen thriller Stakeout on Dope Street. He worked steadily throughout the 1960s and 70s until George Lucas, impressed by his work on the Faye Dunaway thriller Eyes of Laura Mars, hired him to direct 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. While the director was seen by some as an unlikely choice to oversee the second instalment of the Star Wars franchise, Kershner's sombre, character-driven approach paid handsome dividends. "I like to fill up the frame with the characters' faces," he once explained. "There's nothing more interesting than the landscape of the human face."

Following the success of The Empire Strikes Back,...

Director Irvin Kershner has died at the age of 87.

The American moviemaker, best known for directing Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, passed away at his home in Los Angeles after a long illness.

The news was confirmed by his goddaughter Adriana Santini on Monday.

Kershner began his career teaching photography at the University of Southern California, before stepping behind the camera to work on a number of TV shows and small screen movie Stakeout On Dope Street in 1958.

His film career took off in the 1960s and he went on to direct a number of movies including A Fine Madness with Sean Connery in 1966, Up The Sandbox starring Barbra Streisand in 1972 and The Return Of A Man Called Horse with Richard Harris in 1976.

He remains most famous for stepping behind the camera for the second Star Wars installment in 1980.

After stepping away from the sci-fi franchise, Kershner directed Connery again in 1983's unofficial James Bond film Never Say Never Again and took the helm of RoboCop 2 in 1990.

Today was a sad one in the world of entertainment, and one passing was particularly poignant for film geeks. Irvin Kershner, the director of “The Empire Strikes Back” passed away today at the age of 87.

Kershner had a varied and interesting career that wasn’t filled with Hollywood blockbusters. He studied music and photography, and became a documentary director under the United States Information Service. He also developed a number of television shows and directed several feature films, including “The Return of a Man Called Horse,” “A Fine Madness,” and “Hoodlum Priest.”

But he is best known for directing “The Empire Strikes Back”, a job he nearly didn’t take.

Kershner was one of George Lucas’ former professors at USC School of Cinema-Television, and was apparently a little dismayed his student was trying to recapture the success of “Star Wars” in a sequel. He was even more surprised that Lucas...

The Associated Press is reporting that Irvin Kershner, director of the critically-acclaimed sequel to Star Wars, has passed away in Los Angeles following a long illness. He was 87.

Born in Philadelphia, Pa in 1923, Kershner's first love was music. He studied the violin, viola, and composition at Philadelphia's Temple University. He later moved on to painting and then photography, where he attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. Finally, Kershner began his film career at University of Southern California's acclaimed School of Cinematic Arts.

After a foray into government-sponsored still photography projects in Iran, Kershner returned to the States and co-developed a documentary film series called Confidential File. This led to Kershner directing the short-lived television series The Rebel, as well as several TV pilots, including Peyton's Place and Philip Marlowe. A feature film career followed, with Kershner at the helm of such films as The Flim-Flam Man,...

Irvin Kershner, the director behind Star Wars sequel and fan favourite, The Empire Strikes Back, has passed away aged 87.

Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Kershner’s background was a mixture of music and art before beginning a film career at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, teaching photography and taking cinema courses.

Briefly starting out in TV, Kershner then moved on to feature films. Amongst his successes were sequel The Return of a Man Called Horse, critically acclaimed TV movie Raid on Entebbe and The Eyes of Laura Mars, but he was best known for helming the second film in the Star Wars saga.

Originally turning down George Lucas’s request to direct (he had been one of the then young director’s film teachers at USC) Kershner eventually agreed after Lucas told him he would leave directorial control to him. This proved to be a smart decision on Lucas’s part,...

Irvin Kershner - the man who gave us some of the most indelible moments in cinema history with The Empire Strikes Back - has died. He was 87.Kersh, as he was fondly known, died at his home following a long illness.He was, of course, best known for directing The Empire Strikes Back, arguably the greatest chapter in the Star Wars saga (and which celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year). But Kershner also made contributions to other franchises, directing RoboCop 2 and Sean Connery's last appearance as James Bond in the 'unofficial' 007 flick, Never Say Never Again.Having fought in World War II, Kershner began his career by teaching film at the University of Southern California, but quickly made the move behind the camera via a detour as a stills photographer and TV director, calling the shots on Stakeout On Dope Street in 1958.A decent career followed, in which he...

Irvin Kershner, director of possibly the greatest science-fiction film of all-time in The Empire Strikes Back, died in Los Angeles last night at the age of 87. Kershner, who would only direct two films after Empire, had long been suffering from an undisclosed illness. Though he only had a few minor film credits to his resume (including The Return Of A Man Called Horse and S*P*Y*S) Lucas chose Kershner to direct Empire because he knew everything about directing without being "too...