Filed under: 2006, Tamara Dobson, b-movie, blaxploitation, bob dylan, boys beware, cleopatra jones, damaged goods, death, edith piaf, elvis, f for fake, film, french pop, gary graver, girls beware, joe strummer, live and learn, orson welles, pierre delanoe, porn, sandy west, sanitation films, sid davis, social guidance, the runaways, the supremes, tv, video
For some reason it appeared as if 2006 marked the end of an extraordinarily high number lives in entertainment. Or maybe they all just seemed to drop dead within the last two months. Among the more well memorialized deaths like Robert Altman, James Brown and of course, Saddam Hussein– here are five which have not yet received a proper eulogy for their contributions to popular culture.
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1. Tamara Dobson(1947-2006):
Vogue model turned blaxploitation film star, Dobson was most famous for her role in Cleopatra Jones (1973) starring alongside Shelley Winters. She then went on to star in the sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold, and Norman… Is That You? among a few other films and a number of commercials. There was a period in the 1970s when she was the face of most advertisements targeting Black American women. Though she fell into relative obscurity after the mid-seventies, Ms. Dobson still remains one of the first Black faces featured in mainstream media and a contributer in helping to reshape America’s common conception of beauty.
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2. Pierre Delanoe (1918-2006):
Having written over 5000 songs in his lifetime, the French songwriter is not only prodigious but also inventive. Hence why his songs appealed to artists ranging from Edith Piaf to Elvis to Bob Dylan. In fact, the cross-cultural success of Delanoe’s song “Et Maintenant” might allow him to add Franco-American peace-keeper onto that list of achievements too. An extremely popular French song, “Et Maintenant” has been covered in the English version as “What Now My Love?” by The Supremes, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and the Temptations. At any given moment, you can assume the song is being played on the dance floor of atleast one wedding reception in America.
Elvis
Isabelle Boulay
3. Sandy West (1959-2006):
This is just like the time I completely missed Joe Strummer’s death. Two months after everyone had finished re-issuing box sets and throwing Clash tribute shows, I randomly wondered what Joe Strummer was up to. And someone flatly told me he was dead. “WHAT!?”
Now, I’ll say it again. “WHAT?!… Why?”
The Runaways
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4. Gary Graver (1938-2006):
Most often noted as the cinematographer behind Orson Welles’ final films such as F For Fake (1974) and Filming ‘Othello’ (1978), Graver continues to be revered for his use of color in Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind (1972). Following the filming, he spent much of his life pushing to have the movie completed and properly released since it grew into a legal mess. But in addition to his collaborations with Orson, Gary was also the man behind a number of b-movie classics such as The Hard Road (1970), my personal favorite: Satan’s Sadists (1969), and pretty much every single x-rated movie which is the pornographic spin-off of a major Hollywood release.
Satan’s Sadists
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5. Sid Davis (1916-2006):
The director/producer paved the way people like Gary Graver with his sanitation films and social guidance pieces; some of which are still shown in high school classrooms across America. He is probably most famous for his 1961 film, Boys Beware which teaches teenage boys to be wary of the perils of predatory homosexual adults and Live and Learn (1959) a cautionary tale about scissor safety starring his own daughter. Davis is also the producer behind Damaged Goods (1961), Alcohol is Dynamite (1967), Girls Beware (1961) and a slew of other films intended to scare teens into keeping their legs crossed and always remain suspicious of flamboyant strangers.
For the boys:
For the girls:
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